The Long, Long Day

     I have been very tired lately and I just haven't felt like posting much.  I am getting so far behind.  So many things to talk about.  I had my thyroid checked just to make sure, but I got the results back and my levels were normal.  So it must be motherhood that's wearing me out.
     Today was a very long day as well and I admit that I still don't feel like blogging.  So I will sum up the day by copying and pasting my facebook status here:

Usually my kids space out their puke, but amazingly today all 5 of them managed to throw up! Haylee started the ball rolling first thing in the morning with Kelsey taking a close 2nd around 10am. Mackenzie joined the sickies around 3:30 in the afternoon and Nate spewed at the dinner table. Finally, Natalee came in last losing it all just before 9pm tonight. What a day!

GOODNIGHT!
(I wrote this last night but blogger wouldn't let me post!  Bad Blogger!)

The SCAM

Someone tried to scam us again.  It happened once before when we had monster van for sale on craigslist.  This time, Daren and Natalee were trying to find an adorable dog that Natalee could get for her birthday.  They found the following ad on pennysaverusa.com:

Quality White YorkshirePuppies For Home Sale
Price: $100
Location: Inyokern, CA 93527

registered Yorkshire puppies for re homing for more about our Yorkshire Terrier puppies Email us via jamesclarkson83@live.com for pics and more information about them a;so why i am given them out,Email us also on (jamesclarkson83@live.com)

This picture was included in the ad.  You can see why Daren and Natalee were so thrilled that this dog, for a mere $100, was located only a few miles from our home.
     I was getting ready to lay down for a nap when Daren told me that he had emailed the guy and was waiting to hear back from him.  Before falling asleep I told him how a friend had recently told me that so many online pet advertisements are just from scam artists that offer to ship the dog from a distant location such as Hawaii.  I found it hilarious when I woke up that sure enough, the "guy" (or little old lady?) had emailed back and was currently living in Hawaii.  What a surprise!
     This is the email we got back:

> Hello,
> I have a male and female puppies still available
> to go to a good and caring home. they are always happy being together.
> they love to go out for walks, parties and picnics . Right now i do
> not really feel as
> keeping them anymore especially how i lost my (kid &Husband) in an
> accident and i will also be going in for surgery .i will be sending
you the puppy/puppies from here ok .i hope it wont border you . things
have been hard for me ever since and am presently not in any position
of keeping the puppies any longer .I am presently transferred to
Hawaii and i am with the puppies here.. the puppies are
12weeks old and the delivery will take some hours to reach your
location ok . i have to get a legal document that certify and confirms
you as the new owner of the puppy/puppies you get from me ok . its
going to be done legally but easy and fast here in my location ......i
will pay the transportation charges for the puppies to be delivered to
you ok . so what you will only pay for is the adoption fees including
crate . So for one puppy you will be paying $180 and both puppies you
will pay $310 all the fees include both adoption and crate fees for
the puppies.
Do let me know which of the puppies you are interested in taking
......You are also free to take both puppies which is more preferably
since they love to play together depending if you can take good care of
them .Email me your delivery information , which will also be used to
get the puppies delivered to you as follow;
Full Names
Country
State / City
Home Address
Phone Numbers
Zip Code
Nearest Airport to your Location
i wait to read from you soon ....
(4 more similar adorable pictures were attached)

After reporting the mysterious email to a fraud center, this is the email we sent in return:

Uh, no thanks. We only responded to your ad because you said you were
located in Inyokern, which is close to where we live. We would never
buy a dog from Hawaii because it's too risky that it's just a scam.
You will probably have better luck finding a home for them locally. I
have a friend in Hawaii who might be interested if you want me to
contact them for you.

I really wanted to write something much worse but I was worried that if they are very evil people they would retaliate.  Daren was concerned that it really was a sweet, little old Japanese lady who recently lost her husband and son. He kept telling me to say something like, "If you ever have the dog back in Inyokern please contact us."  But I really just couldn't.  The pictures are adorable and I can see why he hated to give up all hope.

Flirty Mommy

     I just remembered something that happened at church yesterday that made me laugh!  There's a really sweet brother in our ward that hands out the programs as we walk into the chapel.  If you are one of my siblings you probably remember JV Ciani.  Well, I noticed as we walked up to him to shake his hand and get a program that he had gotten a haircut.  So I decided to compliment him on it.  I said, "Good morning JV!  Your haircut is very handsome."
     Natalee shot me a horrified look (embarrasment mixed with shock and annoyance) and said under her breath, "Mommy!  You're flirting!"  Luckily we were into the chapel and past JV by then because I admit, I laughed out loud.

Nathan's Sunday Outfit

     Nathan just looks so cute in his little Sunday outfits that I almost want to take a picture every Sunday.  Today I just had to!  He was wearing one of Jacob's shirts and he just looked like such a big boy.  So we did a little photo shoot of him after church.  After a few pictures, Kelsey decided she needed to get in on the action.  And then a few more sisters joined in.  It would have been perfect if Natalee had jumped in there too but she was standing next to me with her camera taking her own pictures.  I think she has a gift because she got some pretty cute ones.  If I think about it I'll add her pictures later.

     Today was also Nate's first time taking the sacrament.  I'm always a little unsure of when to start giving my kids the sacrament since it's so sacred and I know they don't quite understand it.  But at the same time, they are innocent, pure little children.  I usually wait until they're about one and Nate is very close to that.  Last Sunday, when the bread tray passed us and I handed it to the deacon without giving him one, his bottom lip curled up and he got a very hurt expression on his face.  Then I did the same thing with the water, quickly passing it to the deacon before he could knock the tray over, and Nate did the exact same hurt, curled lower lip expression.  So I realized he was ready and I wouldn't keep him from taking the sacrament anymore.  He did almost knock the water tray over today though.  Mackenzie was sitting next to me and she insisted on holding the tray for me but held it a little too close and when I took Nate's cup away he was instantly reaching for another one.  He didn't knock any over but the top of his hands patted several of them.  He doesn't have any obvious illnesses right now and I'm sure the tray was then passed to a completely unsuspecting group of people who had no idea my 11-month old's fingers had just been in their water.

(If you're wondering about the little scratch on his cheek, it's a 'walking wound.'  He is getting quite good and a lot more daring.  He was trying to walk to the fireplace and stumbled right before he got to it and his cheek hit the stone.  We're grateful that it wasn't a lot worse!)

Kindergarten Graduate!

June 8, 2011

     Mackenzie has finished her first year of school!  It is always amazing how fast the school year flies by, each year picking up speed.  Mackenzie's teacher was Mrs. Glennon who was also Natalee's kindergarten teacher at Faller.  We were so excited when Mrs. Glennon moved to Inyokern school.  She did so many wonderful things with the children and she helped them prepare this amazing kindergarten program.  The kids sang some adorable songs.  Mackenzie's favorite was, "I am a Pizza" and she continues to sing it often, as does Kelsey.  Kelsey is going to know it before she even starts kindergarten!  Natalee and Haylee got to get out of class to watch her program.  Nate was there too, sitting on my dad's lap the whole time.  He was mesmerized by the music.  I think he takes after Daren a lot because I see signs of him being an animal lover and a music lover.  (Natalee was the same way when she was a baby.)

     Mackenzie made some new, wonderful friends this school year.  But this is a picture of her with her best friends from before school started.  Joey Cannon, Vadie Grover, and Nathaniel Farrell.

Teacher Gifts

     Tomorrow is the last day of school and we like to give our teachers a thank-you gift at the end of the school year.  Figuring out a thoughtful gift that isn't too pricey (we have three teachers to thank!) can be kind of difficult sometimes.  My friend's sister was a teacher and she told me that she always gets a gazillion candles and lotions for gifts so not to do that.  Well, what else is there?
     Haylee's teacher this year was an old high school classmate of mine, Amy Auld.  This year she got married and she just announced to the class that she is expecting a baby boy.  That made her gift pretty easy.  But as Daren and I were talking about what to give the other teachers for their gifts (looks like I'll be whipping up some pumpkin bread tonight) Haylee brought out her mini Book of Mormon and said she wanted to give it to her teacher.  I reminded her that she had already given her gift-I had suggested she wait until the last day of school but she was so excited she had to bring it today- and also her best friend Grace is giving her a Book of Mormon with her testimony in it.  She said she wanted to give her something from herself, not something store-bought.  And besides, that way they'll have two so they can read the scriptures together.  I couldn't argue with that logic so I told her that she had to write a note explaining why she was giving her the Book of Mormon.  I said she had to say why she gave her the same thing as Grace and what the Book of Mormon means to her.  I then asked her what she would put in her note.  She said, "I'm giving you this book, so you can know about the past when there were lots of Mormon boys going around preaching the gospel."
     I couldn't resist a little laugh.  Luckily, Haylee started laughing too so we just laughed together.  We then talked about how it would make Grace feel if she took Grace's idea and did the same thing.  So she isn't going to do it after all.  I'm proud of her for wanting to share the gospel with her teacher.  Kids are the best missionaries.

The Story of the Eighth Article of Faith

     Mackenzie came home from school the other day and was so excited to tell me that they had to write a story in their class.  "Do you want to know what I wrote for my story?" she asked.  I could see she was bursting with excitement to tell me.  I asked what she had written about and she answered by reciting by memory the eighth article of faith.  "Wow!" I said.  "How did you know how to spell all of those words?"  "I sounded them out," Mackenzie answered.  I could see how proud she was and I congratulated her.
     I had completely forgotten about the conversation when one day, Mackenzie came home from school bursting with excitement again.  "We got our story back Mom!  Do you want to see it?"  And there it was, clear as could be, the eighth article of faith:

We bleev the bibll to be the wrb fo God as far as thigs are chrasladid crecktlee

We asso bleev the boock fo moomim to be th wrd f God.

     When Daren came home from work I showed it to him and asked him if he could figure out what her story was about.  He looked at it for a second and instantly said, "Of course, it's the eighth article of faith."  I can't help but wonder if her teacher was able to decipher any of it and if so, what she thought about it.  I'm proud of my little missionary!

(I believe the picture she drew to go with her story is the gold plates on the left and the Bible on the right.)

Kelsey's Sunday Dress

     Kelsey was so proud of her outfit today that she asked me to take a picture of her.  She had picked out a pink sleeveless dress, a pink shirt to wear under it (the shirt actually went with a different dress but it looked like the pinks were an identical match), and pink tights.  She also has a fluffy pink hair tie in her ponytail that you can't see.

Kelsey has been very independent about getting dressed for well over a year now.  She's so excited to find clothes that 'match' these days.

Nate...

...has been getting into my cupboards lately....

Literally!!

(He was all the way in there at one point-I just didn't get the camera out fast enough!)

Spelling Mistakes

     The valiant lessons in primary today were on gratitude.  The lesson manual suggested for the children to write a thank you note to someone.  Grandma Poetschlag is Natalee's teacher and she gave them all a paper and an envelope.  Natalee wrote her thank you note to Daren and I.  This is what she wrote:

Dear Mommy and Daddy,
     I am greatful that you two are my parents.  I love you veary much.  You two are the Best.  I Love you more than you Love me.
     More than how big outer space.

         Love,
            Natalee

     I asked Natalee about the word "veary."  I asked her if that was 'very.'  She said yes so I asked her, "You know 'very' doesn't have an 'a' in it, right?"  "I know," she said.  "But grown-ups think spelling mistakes are cute."
     Natalee has been reading my blog.  I guess I've mentioned here and there that I transcribe their work exactly as they wrote it, spelling errors and all.  I think it's cute that she tried to spice up her letter to us.

The Infestation!!!

     When your kids go to school, at some point or another, they are going to be exposed to lice.  The spanish word for lice is piojos.  I know that because it was a very common issue for sister missionaries in Argentina!   Well usually, when a child in one of my kids' classes is 'diagnosed' with lice, a letter is sent home to tell the parents.  So I was surprised to find out that, apparently, there has been quite the epidemic of lice going around the school and even children in my kids' classes have been sent home for it.
     I learned about the infestation from my a couple of my good friends.  One of them decided to take no chances.  Her children were cleared by the school, but just to be on the safe side, she still washed the entire family's hair with the special shampoo, threw out all their pillows and bought new ones, sprayed down surfaces-including the car interior-with lice killer spray, and threw out all their brushes.
     Today at church, my daughter Natalee brought her brush.  Mackenzie then began to throw a fit because she said it was her brush, not Natalee's.  Natalee showed it to me and I informed Mackenzie that it was indeed Natalee's brush and she knows her brush is purple.  Natalee had brushed her hair beautifully before church today so I knew she didn't really need the brush.  It was also causing a fight.  So I told her to hand it over.  She answered with this:
"No Mom!  I need it!  I only brought it so [my friend] could use it because her mom threw away all their brushes!"
     I'm sure my friend would be thrilled to know that despite all of her best efforts, her daughter is borrowing brushes from my children.  I did check my kids as well, and I am an expert on finding lice.  They were clear.  But it looks like we need a little edu-ma-cation in this family on the topic!

Bountiful Harvest

     Daren has worked hard the last few years to plant us a garden and every year gets better!  This year we have already started to get zucchini.  It's very exciting and I'm sure we will get tons and tons more.  We don't have a lot of luck on everything we plant, but always have a bounty of squash and melons.  Now, the girls like the melons, but they aren't as thrilled about the squash.

This is all Daren said they had to eat for dinner tonight.

This is how they looked at us:

     Actually, it was just Natalee and Mackenzie.  Kelsey fell asleep before dinner and Haylee ate hers right away and, what do you know?  She actually liked it!  She even took seconds, and I believe thirds.  All in all, she said she had eaten 9 slices.  Natalee and Mackenzie eventually choked theirs down so they wouldn't have to go to bed early.  They made sure to tell us how gross it was.  It would make no sense for them to eat it and then just keep quiet about their feelings, now would it?  They are going to be so excited to be eating from the garden all summer long!

Pre-Dentist Drama

     Kelsey had a dentist appointment yesterday at 11:00.  So a little after 10:30 we all headed out to the car.  I buckled Nathan in and Kelsey buckled herself in. (We were leaving a little early because we were dropping Nathan off at my parents' house and because Kelsey was just dying to leave!)  As I was about to get into my seat, I noticed that the cat was playing around with a huge tarp that was on the garage floor.  Daren had brought it in a week or so earlier when the wind had blown it off the hay and into the corner of the yard.  Not wanting to lose it, Daren brought it into the garage.  But since it was so big, he needed my help to fold it and we pretty much just forgot about it.  Since the cat seemed to be very interested in the tarp, I figured she had cornered something in it.  I have different feelings about the things she corners.  I don't want her to kill birds really.  There are some adorable Mojave ground squirrels (they look just like chipmunks except with a little bit longer tails) that like to sneak food from her cat dish.  I like the chipmunks.  I once saved a baby chipmunk from her-I still need to blog about it and post the adorable picture.  If it's a mouse or kangaroo rat, I just turn the other way.  I don't want to watch her take it out, but I don't want it living near my house either.
     Well, I decided to see what Rosey was playing with.  I was almost certain it was a mouse of some sort and I thought I'd help her get it out of the tarp so she could finish it off.  I just started flapping it up a bit from one edge but nothing was scrambling out.  So I finally gave it a big lift and whooshed it all the way off the ground only to find a snake underneath!  After screaming and jumping into the car and backing out of the garage, I realized I'd better find out a little more information before taking off to the dentist.  After all, my new little baby chicks are living out in the garage right now. (Well, they were!  At this moment they are stinking up my house but they will be back in the garage by tomorrow.)  I thought I'd better find out if the snake was alive or not before leaving it in the garage with my babies.
     The car was now backed out of the garage so I got out and looked around for something to stand on.  I put Rosey in the little dog cage so she couldn't interfere.  I finally decided to stand on the bucket with the chicks' food and I grabbed a long piece of wood and started to lift up the tarp.  The snake wasn't in the same spot anymore but as I lifted the tarp, all of a sudden a mouse ran out of it.  I was thinking, "How many animals does she have cornered in there?"  I then moved it farther and found a very alive, small to medium-sized snake.  At that moment I decided the tarp had to go once and for all and I flung it completely out of the garage.  It is obviously a safe haven for creatures that don't belong in my garage.  I realized at that point that I hadn't even thought about whether or not the snake was poisonous.  Luckily for me, it was not.  It was also not aggressive.  If anything, it wanted to get away.  I didn't particularly want to shoo it out of the garage, even with the stick, because I was afraid I would make it mad.  And the bucket I was standing on (while wearing shorts and sandals) wasn't tall enough to get away from it if it did decide to come for me.  It looked like a harmless gopher snake so I decided to just ignore it and hope that it would leave the garage on it's own while I went to the dentist.
     I moved the chicks into the small dog cage and brought them into the house.  I put Rosey out of the garage and left the garage door open just a crack (big enough for the snake but too small for Rosey).  When I got home, the snake was nowhere to be seen.  Unfortunately, the mouse was.  I put Rosey back in the garage.  I still haven't seen the snake or it's body so I assume it made it out safely.  I remembered afterwards that Rosey had caught and killed a snake just a couple of days earlier.  The girls had seen her carrying around the poor decapitated creature.  So I don't know why it didn't dawn on me earlier that a snake was a possible critter to find under the tarp.  It certainly brought a lot of excitement to my nerves for the day.
     And, of course, a lovely cell phone photo to go with my post. :)  The 7-Up bottle isn't there intentionally but I was glad it was by the snake so you can get an idea of it's size.

Kelsey Goes to the Dentist

Doesn't that sound like the title of a children's book?  :)

I recently bought a micro SD card for my phone so that I could transfer the pictures that I have taken onto the SD card, and then blog about them-you know, those cute surgery pictures I've been telling you about?  Well, it turns out that I haven't figured out how to transfer pictures, but I do know how to make sure any new ones I take are saved to the card.  So now when I don't think to take my camera with me, I can still take some cute pictures for the blog.  Thus, I have never before taken pictures at a child's first dentist appointment until now.

     Kelsey was so excited when I told her she was going to the dentist.  She's been with me to the other kids' appointments and she was so happy to have her turn.  She got dressed and wanted to leave right away.  She was disappointed when I told her we still had another hour or so.  We took a few pictures in the car of her very excited smile. :)

She wasn't quite as excited when the appointment started.  She became nervous but still cooperated.  Here she is about to get her x-rays done.

As soon as they moved the chair her excitement returned.  She loved going up and down!

She was amazing for the cleaning!  She really liked the 'straw' that vacuumed her spit.

Dr. Bang said that her x-rays were very good so she must have sat very still for them.

They gave her a mint green toothbrush and she got to pick a toy out of the treasure box.  They had lots of bracelets and rings and luckily, one last necklace, which is what she chose.  I wish I'd thought to take a picture with those things.  She was very happy with her prizes.  I'm SO glad she had a good experience with the dentist and she was so brave!

Mr. Mathwell

     Today I got to go see one of my very favorite teachers from high school, Mr. Maxwell (a.k.a. Mr. Mathwell, a.k.a. Dexter).  Well, actually, I guess we were the ones he called Dexter :)  He was a lot of fun and definitely made math a fun class.  He has always lived up in Walker Pass, about 30 minutes away.  My friend and I went and visited him once in high school, 18 years ago. (WOW! I'm old!)  Unfortunately, Mr. Maxwell has been having back pain for years now and has had several back surgeries.  So I went up to see him this morning and bring him a few things from town that he needed.  It was so great to visit with him and catch up on how everyone was doing.  I told him as much as I could about my siblings and their families but apparently there are a lot of answers I don't know.  Like, what Jeff is going to study at either BYU or U of U.  I'm pretty sure it's BYU.  I told him it was a lot of people to keep track of and he said he definitely agreed with that.  I also brought the calendars my mom made for 2011 and 2010 to show him lots of pictures of my brothers and sister and their spouses and kids.
     It was a great time walking down memory lane.  There were so many fun things that I hadn't even thought about for years!  He reminded me of the time that Debbi Page and I flirted with a substitute just to tease him.  I believe we left him an anonymous note that said, "You're cute" or something like that on it.  Of course, he told Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Maxwell figured us out.  I'll have to call Deb tomorrow and remind her of our silliness.  A fun morning/afternoon!

The Walking Game

     Nate is SO ready to walk!  As I was getting ready to write this post he 'brought' me the pancake mix.  He's obviously been in my kitchen cabinet.  It's in an old Goldfish bucket and he used it as a walker and slid it across the tile to the family room. :)
     Tonight Daren and I sat across from each other so that Nate could take a few steps back and forth between us for some walking practice.  Kelsey was watching but all the other girls were in bed.  Kelsey took a very late nap and so she wasn't ready to go to sleep when they did.  She started to look a little bummed and I was worried that she felt bad that Nathan was getting all the attention.  So I said, "Kelsey do you want a turn?"  She got a huge grin on her face and came over.  I was thinking that we would have Nate walk to her too but instead she jumped in front of me and started doing these little tippy toe steps over to Daren.  Then she laughed so hard when we clapped and cheered for her so she turned around and came back to me.  It was adorable.  Kelsey has such a cute giggle.  We did that for a few minutes then let Nate have a turn playing again.

The Proof

     Nathan has been standing by himself and taking a few steps here and there for a week or two now.  I finally pulled out Natalee's camera to catch him in the act.  I love the adoring look on Kelsey's face in the background.

He loves it when we all clap and cheer for him after he takes a few steps.

     In case you can't read his onesie, it says, "If you think I'm handsome you should see my daddy."  I loved it and had to get it.  First because he has such a handsome daddy, and second because he's such a handsome boy himself and Kelsey still calls him 'Nathan handsome boy' sometimes.