little mice.

So, we've got a minor mice problem we've been working on for a while. My dear hubby had bought some big 50 Lb. bags of rice, with the intention of putting it into 5 gallon buckets, but we never quite got that far. Well, we had a small family of mice move in to start in on the rice bags,... and we set out traps. Well, i guess the mice family invited all their friends, and they've all gotten trap savy. So, we are still setting out (and re-setting the sprung) traps. I've been researching other types of mice traps, and i'm leaning seriously toward the electric ones that just fry the mice to death. (yes,.. i'm THAT sick of mice!!)

I came into the kitchen the other day to find i've got a MUCH larger mouse than what i expected, who has gotten fridge savy and will steadfastly and innocently say, "I didn't do that." Never mind the cheese leavings all over her face, and the evidence in front of her. (take a GANDER at those bite marks - crazy!!)

fun in the sun!

The little kids have been doing a lot of backyard swimming lately. They had a friend over the other day, and they ended up swimming in the morning, going to the park for a picnic lunch, and then swimming again in the afternoon with D and A.

It was a pretty hefty dosing of sun and fun. I made sure to coat the kids with sunscreen, but i think it was still a little much for C. She didn't get sunburned, but she woke up that night at 4AM throwing up with a temperature of 103degrees! Poor girl, i think she has that same sensitivity to the sun and heat that i have. If i'm in the sun too long, and don't stay hydrated, i get headaches and am just miserable through the night and the next day.

I got sun poisoning once while living in Arizona, and had the same stuff - nausea, vomitting, fever, headache, etc. I'll have to be cautious this summer to make sure she stays hydrated. Still, they definately had a blast, and she seemed to be feeling fine the next day ('course i did keep her inside the whole day - paranoid mommy that i am ;-)

Baptism

A's friend in the Richmond Ward, Naomi, got baptized this past week. It was right after Berea Branch meets, so i packed a lunch for the kids, and we stayed for it. After the baptism itself, when we were waiting for them to get changed, A came up to me and said wistfully, "I want to get baptized," to which i replied: "sure, you're turning 8 in less than a year." She turned around, put on her pouty face, and said, "NO! I want to get baptized right NOW!!" Ah,... the impatience of youth.

Painting Paper Plates

I guess i'd gotten into such a kick out of my painting that the kids wanted to join me to! So, i got out my acrylics as so many of them are YEARS old (inherited from mom), and let them have at it! They definitely enjoyed themselves, and went through quite a few of my paper plates before i finally started putting a cap on the number of plates they could paint in each session ;-)

painting!

I had the WONDERFUL opportunity today to drop my kids off and go help a lady in the ward paint her house. They will be moving to Virginia, and we're going to miss them SO much. They sit with my kids during sacrament so i can play organ on my sunday, and they have 2 girls in young women's who are incredible babysitters. They're an awesome family; and the branch won't be the same without them.
On the plus side, i had an INCREDIBLE time painting! I really enjoyed the break for my kids, and they love going to someone else's house to play, so I don't feel bad about neglecting them. And i actually ACCOMPLISHED something!! I finished the entire hallway - edging in 5 doors! And started on their stairwell, finishing up 2 walls. It's so nice to 'SEE' a difference with what i've done - not just the perpetual doing dishes, washing clothes, wiping counters, sorting clothes, cleaning house, making lunches, doing the dishes AGAIN, washing the floor,... the list goes on and on, and on...
Oh, i know it's important, it's just that,...
it. never. ends.
Anyway, i've set up to be albe to paint tomorrow and wednesday also - i am SO looking forward to it!

spring plantings

Now that most of my spring tree and bush planting is finished, i was finally tabulating up what i had managed to get planted this year. I've been awfully busy trying to get everything in the ground as soon as it gets here, and things stayed dormant for a bit longer than normal due to the late ice-storm coming through. However, now i'm at least getting to see the budding and get confirmation that the plants are, in fact, still alive! A watched me plant the apple trees, and comment that she didn't think it was a tree - it just looked like a stick to her ;-) She's highly impressed now that there's actual leaves forming on it. And yes, as you can see, it's a shrimpy little twig, but at least it'll be easier to acclimate to my hillside, and won't go into quite as much shock as a large transplant would.


I've still got my strawberry bed growing, it's almost time to gut it and put in all new plants,... but i'm trying to eek one more year out of the current plants, which are runners from 2 years ago. AND,... i haven't had any problems with the kids picking the 'flowers' this year!! (they've got plenty of dandelions to spend that urge on!)


The biggest project this spring was tilling under the front area along the house and the sidewalk, and then planting blueberry bushes both there, and next to the retaining wall, and i even planted some ground-cover blueberry shrubs on the back hill. All total, i planted 16 blueberry bushes!! We'll see what kind of return we get though, with the wild-life we've got around here. My vegetable garden this spring has been getting decimated by the rabbits - it's almost incentive enough to get a dog!


I also got quite a few trees planted - 2 apple trees and 2 pear trees in the front side yard. And then 2 walnut trees and 2 hazelnut trees in the backyard. I don't know how the ones in the backyard will do with the clay soil we have, and also being in the midst of the area where the kids play, but they at least seem to be leafing out. Their leaves are an interesting thing to watch form and unfold. I love going back there to see the new growth.


The last planting project for this spring was for that strip of ground behind the garden. It was a royal PAIN to plant, as i had to dig and trace back the thorny bush/tree that kept coming up back there. It had a strong root system that just permeated the whole area - it took me hours to dig it out and trace it back through the ground. It'd been trying for the past 3 years to get rid of that thing: cutting it back everywhere it came up and then using stump and vine killer - but it just KEPT coming back! Hopefully i've taken care of it now - but it was a vicious battle. Anyway, once i got out the roots, i planted 9 cherry bushes back there - 5 Hansen's Bush Cherries, and 4 Sugar Sweet. They had buds and sprouts on them when i put them in the ground, however, we had a late freeze that shriveled them up, but they're coming back now. I'm very thankful for reisilient plants!! Now we'll just see if i can maintain my upkeep on everything. Maybe i'll start farming off some of the tasks to the kids - It'd be good to teach the kids where their food comes from!

A's family birthday

A started off her birthday celebration with a delivery from daddy. A just LOVES flowers, so he went and got her some 'REAL' flowers from the store, and we put them in a vase for her.







Then we headed into the cake festivities. I'd used the leftover cake batter from the party cupcakes to make a couple of heart- shaped cakes, and then used them to make a butterfly; A LOVED it, and enjoyed it even more when she figured out that i'd hid her age and name into the patterns. And,... YES, that food tray should look VERY familiar to the siblings - and NO, to all you non-siblings, i DIDN'T take it. (my PARENTS did! ;-)





We let D light the candles on the cake, which really made HIS day!

[sigh] My little budding pyromaniac ;->





A got 3 cards on the day of her birthday - one from the primary presidency (YEAH! - my counselors are AWESOME!), and one from each set of grandparents. All of the kids are ecstatic when they get a piece of mail addressed just to 'them,' so A was appropriately excited. Inside the envelope, Grandma Rose had included a necklace. A, of course, had to immediately put it on and ogle herself in the mirror. I'm glad Gram R had thought of that - i'm not much into 'pretty' jewelry, so sometimes i neglect that in my gift giving. A was pretty enthused about the necklace and had to wear it to school the next day (waking me up at 6:30am so i could help her put it on!)






We had to teach Grandpa Paul how to do the 'heavy, heavy hang,' although i must admit, A was quite un-inventive in her wish-giving. Paul got wished good health, but i think all the kids got 'grow up big and strong' :-)








Paul and Linda had gotten A the stuffed animal from the feature films for families -'Tiny Hero'; she snuggled right up with it the whole evening, and kept it in her arms throughout the night-time rituals and into bedtime.

EVERYBODY needs a stuffed animal!