Got Gum?

These are pictures taken this morning. The first is gender...can you tell what we are having?

In this video, I think it looks an awful lot like somebody is chewing gum!


I am exhausted...the adrenaline of it all wore off, and I feel a bit like a zombie!

Believe it or Not

Just a quick note to let all you out there know that Dave has had a change of heart. He had a work seminar in Leavenworth and drove the city Prius 340 miles (give or take) and used just over 6 gallons of gas.

He says we definately need to get something with that kind of mileage...only if we could hold the spaceship..ness, it would be nice.

And don't let his comments about his issues with the Prius only being that it looks like a spaceship trick you....He is an evil conservative, and is only trying to cover up.

Actual Conversation...days ago

I was working in the BIG garden at the Jensens' house the day after announcing to my children that they were going to have a new sibling. Arami was standing at the end of the row talking to Katie, a relative of the Jensens who is barely 5.

Arami - My mom is gonna get pregnant soon.
Me - Actually Ara, I am pregnant now.
Arami - No..I mean that you are going to have a baby in your tummy.
Me - I know baby, There is a baby in there now.
Arami - NOW!!!!
Me - Yep

(she then walks over to me, while her friend Katy watches, and starts to professionally feel around my tummy looking for feet.)

Me - Arami, that baby is way too small for us to be able to feel yet, we have to wai a little longer.
Arami - Well, Sister Lays' baby's feet are over here.
Me - Cool.

(Arami then walks away, and Katy comes over to start her conversation)

Katy - So...you probaby have to go to the doctor now to get cut.
Me - I don't think so.
Katy - Well, how is the baby going to get out.
Me - Well, some babies come out a different way than being cut out.
Katy - HOW?
Me - (pensively thinking....)well, they come out of the birth canal.
Katy - Ohhhhh...the birth canal. Do snails have a birth canal?
Me - hmm, I don't think so.
Katy - Oh...Now I know why you are so fat, it is because you are pregnant.
Me - (laughing)
Katy - So...when you have the baby you aren't going to be fat anymore.
Me - I don't think it will work like that for me.

Katy then went on to explain to me that in order to lose weight, I needed a special drink mix, and a special blender that makes loud noises.

Sounds remeniscant of a conversation I had a couple of years ago with Maira trying to convince me of a special juicer and how it would save my life!

News!!

Ok!!! My understanding is that this isn't going to be breaking news for many people, but maybe....

Dave and I are expecting another member to our little (he he) family. In early March ( I think) we will be adding his 3rd, my 4th, our 5th. Did you follow that?

Party Time

Becky Jensen and I are co-hosting a HERITAGE MAKERS party at my house on Thursday the 30th at 7pm. If you haven't seen them before, it is really cool. Come for the products, the food or the friends.

WE WILL HAVE FUN!

Saturday!!!

David went out with a bunch of friends to paintball on Goat Island. It is an island that has abandoned gun batteries and other "fun" war type stuff and is only accessible by boat, and only during certain times because of the tide. The guys all met at Cornet Bay (I think) at 6 am and set off for a day of shooting each other up.

I stayed at home with the kiddos, went to Arami's last soccer game of the season, then set off to a teammates house for a potluck and trophys. It was fun! An added bonus is that the previous evening at about midnight, my dad got into town, so he was able to join us for the festivities.

I didn't do much work, but was sure feeling tired, so at about 4, Amira and I took a nap.

At 6, the phone rang, waking me up. It was David...

me: Hi
Dave: Hi...(long pause)...we are on our way back from Cornet Bay.
me: Cool
Dave: We had a bunch of fun.
me: Cool
Dave: Can you do me a favor?
me: What is it?
Dave: Take me to the Emergency Room when I get Home.
me: (big sigh)...what did you do?
Dave: I jumped off a gun battery and I need some x-rays of my back I think. It hurts to breath.
me: (bigger sigh) All right, see you soon.

Fast forward 7 1/2 hours, most of which was in the ER, part of the time sharing a room with a meth addict, and part of the time with him getting x-rays and cat scans (where he passed out and needed to be carried by a woman to a bed) we discover that he has indeed BROKEN HIS BACK!

Yep, that is right, Dave broke his back playing paintball. It really isn't that bad. It is a compression fracture of the 7th thorasic vertabrae. He is in pain, but not enough (he feels) to use the narcotic pain meds, and can walk around and do most things fairly normally. He is pretty stiff looking, but then again, David always is:)

Anyways, he is going to make an appointment to see an orthapedic surgean tomorrow, just to make sure there isn't anything he should do aside from taking a couple of days off of work.

So, to finish off the day(I guess technically is was Sunday at this point) we picked up our kids from some AWESOME friends (the Lay's, I know you aren't surprised, you think they are awesome too) and went home to sleep!

My First Garden

I am so very excited. This weekend, I planted my very first garden, well, actually there are two of them. I have some incredibly generous friends who live on a lot of land. They have a full field full of potatoes and corn, additionally, 4-6' x 80' raised beds, and 6 (I think, maybe 5) 4' x 4' raised beds. We spent a good part of Saturday over there planting vegetables, a lot of which we intend to can for our food storage. We planted....tomotoes, zuchini, squash, eggplant, cucumbers, watermelon, peppers, onions, pumpkins, cabbage, cauliflour, broccoli, beets, spinach, artichokes, ummmm I can't think of what else, but there is probably more.

THEN...we finally got our box put together and filled, and planted our home garden in the back yard with...tomatoes, red, green, yellow and jalepeno peppers, walla walla onions, cilantro, zuchinni, yellow squash, green beans, peas and a gourmet salad mix. David is fashioning a mini green house to go over the tomatoes and peppers so they will grow lots of stuff.

It is so cool, I cannot express my excitement, but please know, that I am excited!

New Stuff

Before Amira was born, we decided to cloth diaper her. For the first year of her life, we used Prefolds, which are the large rectangle cloths that our mothers used to used. I felt good everytime I used them...putting them on her, taking them off, washing them, haning them on the line outside, folding them afterwards...I know, it sounds a little cooky, but I really did enjoy all aspects. Then she turned one, and really started to eat real food (not that breast milk isn't real food, you know what I mean) and I lost all interest.

Fast forward six months, and the desire to do it again has been overwhelming, but not enough to want to pull down the rectangles, and covers. So, I started some research via the internet and friends who use! I discovered pocket diapers (well, actually somebody else did, and I just copied their advise) and took the plunge and made the order. One of the requirements was to get a special diaper sprayer though, so that no "toilet dunking" would be in order. THEY CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY and I am so excited.

Amira is wearing the cute pink one (post washing of course). She likes the velcro, I can see that being a potential problem, but for now, let's hope she doesn't figure out the snaps on her onesies for awhile.

I actually installed the diaper sprayer myself, it was pretty simple. After I was done, I invited Dave in to check it out. He was thouroughly impressed with the amount of money some people are making off of us hippie moms buying fancy sink sprayers. I digress...I said to him, "let me show you how to use it." To which he responded "I don't need any help, I know how it works." as he pushed the sprayer and shot his face and the ceiling.

THE END

David Has a Change of Heart

Alright.... David Here

My employer has in the past couple of years purchased several Toyota Prius's ( or would they be calles Pri'ie). Now I don't really know why..... Perhaps it was the precevied cost savings, availabily, or public perception that led them to buy these cars, I don't know.

Now my impression of the Prius is not a positive one. I can see the noble valor and personal convictions that would cause a person to purchase/drive one (although I don't neccesarlily believe in things like Man Made Global Warming and the like). But come on.... Only 2nd to the Pontiac Aztek......... is the Uglyest Car on the Road.

I have sadly lost my Prius virginity. My first experience was last summer when I was a passenger tooling around town with a co-worker. However I kind of look at that as since I wasn't driving then it was OK and I could still hold my head up high. However 2 weeks ago I found myself needing to make a site visit on official business and the Prius was the ONLY car available (Hmmm.... all the gas guzzers were checked out...... there might be more to that story) So anyway I was forced by lack of options to drive the Prius.

1st Impression..... Its Ugly. Seats are comfortable enough. Steering wheel feels good. Visibilty Stinks. I couldn't figure out how to start it. Controls are funky, to futuristic, and not very logical. Not to mention its Ugly....

I have come to a point in my existince and since I have now had my initiation to the Prius club.... I have decided to embrace the technology and the ugly car. I will not shy away from it. It will be my first choice if I need to use a vehicle at work. I will drive it as much as possible. I will put it to the test...... I wanna see how often I can make the engine run vs running on batteries. I wanna see how Low I can get the Average Miles Per Gallon.

After all its been a brutal winter for me... Cold, Rainy, Snowy, and just seemed like it would never end. And since its starting to finally get warm and bearable outside I need to make sure that global warming hangs around a while.

Do you ever...

Get a compliment from a friend at church on mother's day about how cute you look, and then try to be funny and clever and say something really dumb and insulting? I DO!!!!

Sorry Aspen, I really was just trying to be funny, but it didn't come out that way.

MAIRA

Maira went on her BIG girl scout outing this weekend and spent the night at the Pacific Science Center. Her troop leader's daughter is also in the troop. She recently had major knee surgery, so is a little hobbly. I just opened my email and this is what I received from her leader.

" Can I tell you what an absolute delight your daughter is. I just love her. She was so sweet and caring and decided she wanted to be Elisabeth's buddy for the camp-in adventure. She was so thoughtful and always jumping in to help her on her crutches, go to the bathroom, get her snacks, help her get out of her chair and up off the ground, carry things, etc. She didn't even think twice about it. It's rare to see such truly unselfish acts of sincere caring. Give her another big hug from me."

What a treat to hear on mother' day.

Let's talk about feet.

ok, really now, what is the deal with feet. Dave and I were relaxing this evening and he pointed out his toes...they have a ridge for lack of a better word. Then he recalled a memory from childhood, where he thought the "ridges" in his mothers feet were so weird. Which then got me thinking about my mom's feet. Let me start by saying "I LOVE YOU MOM". Now...when I was a young, naive, innocent, perfect skinned child, I remember seeing my mom's feet and thinking "WOW, those are ugly, I mean, the heals are dry and wrinkly, and the toenails are kinda smooshed looking". I remember saying to myself that I would never have feet that looked so...old.

Fast forward, oh I don't know, 25 years or so, and I look down at my feet. WOW, they are OLD. Not too long ago, I took a good look at my dear mother's feet, and wouldn't you know it, they actually look really GOOD compared to mine. WHAT!!!

How does that happen?

Baskin Robbins

Tomorrow...Wed. the 29th of April, is 31 cent scoop night from 5-10 at B&R.

Do you love me?

Yum Yum

Happy

As part of our homeschooling we are doing a literature unit study on Charlotte's Web. Today, we took our Venn diagrams on "country" and "city" and wrote "Diamante Poetry". Essentially, it is a seven line poem with contrasting objects. The first line is one line, a noun. The second is two words, adjectives; the third is three participles, the fourth begins with two nouns and ends with two nouns as well. The first three lines, as well as the first two nouns of the fourth line describe the initial noun. The second two nouns in the fourth line, as well as the following lines, describe the contrasting noun of the seventh line.

I know, this may be a little confusing to explain in a blog post, but really, there is a point.

The kids had to do two poems...one using "country" and "city", and another using a set of words of their choice words. Maira chose "mom" and "dad". She decided to start with Mom, and when she was choosing her adjectives to describe me, she started with "happy". I asked, "You think that I am happy?" To which she responded, "Yes, most of the time!" Then Reiley chimed in with "Yeah, you are pretty much happy all of the time!"

WOW!!! That of course brought a smile to my face. Not that I think I am a huge grump ALL of the time, but I was sure that my kids thought I was a total ogre.

Today was a good day!

Cement shampoo

....A little background info...We are building a fence in our back yard, or should I say that Kyle is building it....beside the point. We have a few bags of cement in our garage still, one of which is a little broken open, so there is "dust" on the ground. So...we spent most of the afternoon hanging out in the front yard today because it was such a beautiful day, and at one point Arami walked out of the garage with a dusty white head. She thought it would be fun the take a cement dust shower.

Can you say FREAK OUT! I was thinking...what do I do? If I try to wash it, won't it turn hard? Well, thankfully I had a sane friend present who calmly stated that I should just go wash it out.

Who'd a thought!

Phyllis Yvonne Green

My father's wife, my bonus mom (I hate "step" mom). She passed away on Sunday, 2 minutes after I walked into the room to say goodbye to her. Thanks for waiting for me Phyllis.

She was a very kind, giving big hearted woman, who loved her grandchildren to death. Her death came as a surprise, definately unexpected. She would have been 59 on the 18th had she made it three more days.

She had pneumonia (sp?) and after choking, aspirated on food, she then stopped breathing, and ultimately it was the major stroke that did it.

I am so grateful for all that I know about God's plan, the peace it brings to those of us who loved her andknow that we will see her again soon.

We will all miss you!

Don't fall over!

I know it has been like fifty years since I have REALLY blogged, but all for good reason.

Dave and I decided to stimulate the economy and purchase a home. It has been a whirlwind month and a half. This is how it went....

I came home the week before Christmas, the day of the big snow, from spending some time down at my mom's house. David came home from work and knowing that a huge stomr was headed our way the conversation commenced.

Dave: How do you feel about maybe using the fireplace, you know, in case we lose power? (we haven't ever used it)

Stacie: Hmmm, I think we should look into buying a house.

Dave: What!!

Stacie: Yeah, let's check it out.

Dave: OK

So, I made a call to a friend in the area who is a realtor and asked her to recommend a mortgage broker. We scheduled an appointment for two days later...and the rest as they say is history.

We found a house we both loved at first sight. It was right around the corner from where we lived, so we didn't have to move far. It is large enough for us to live in with all our kids forever (even if we have more) and not too large that we will want to move, at least until we are too old to want to tackle the stairs anymore.

Anyways...I hope that explains my lack of posting. We are done moving out of the other house now, and close enough to moving in the new one, so I should be blogging more now.

okay so the first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me to you.my choice. made especially for you.of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1 i make no guarantees that you will like what i make!

2 what i create will be just for you.

3 it will be done sometime this year.

4 you have no clue what it will be... it may be a story. it may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. i may draw or paint something. i may bake something and mail it to you. who knows? not you, thats for sure.

5 i reserve the right to do something extremely strange. the catch? oh the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.the first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!! oh and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!!

Sweet Girl

Driving down the road today, Maira and Reiley were talking about who they were in love with. Maira says she isn't in love with anybody...but if she were, it would be with somebody who has lived on earth, but isn't alive anymore, which ensued a conversation about dead grandparents.

Arami pipes up..."Mommy, I don't want daddy to get older and die, you know why? Because I love him so much!"

She is such a sweetie!