Safely Home

Have ya seen that commercial were the little girl is putting up some posters of her lost dog? Well if ya haven't I'll give a run down, she is putting up posters and is really sad this Young guy decides to take a picture of the poster with his phone then he sends it to everyone he knows askin if they can help find the dog and of course someone does and by the time the little girl returns home sad cause she didn't find her dog this guy was there with the dog and she was so happy. Well we had our own version of that happen today, last night when we went for our family walk a little terrier with no tags followed us home, we weren't sure what to do with him we didn't want to leave him outside, so we brought him in fed him and bathed him. He was a well mannered dog, house trained, so I figured that someone had to be lookin for him, I decided to post on Face Book about him last night just before I went to bed and I am so glad I did a friend of mine knew who's dog it was, her neighbors that had just moved in lost their dog! He dug under their fence and when he went under it his collar came off, she had gone over to my friends today to see is she could make some copies of their lost dog posters, she told her all about the dog and then my friend got on Face Book saw my post gave me a call and we reunited the owner with their dog!! It was awesome, the dog was so happy to see his owners again and vice verse, Ryne was a little sad at first, once I explained that we would want someone else to do the same if they found Hershey, after that she was happy. I think it was divine intervention that got that dog home, I mean we just happen to find him, then a friend happen to see it on my face book and she just happened to live across the street from the owners, I think someone else had a hand in getting the dog safely home, and who knows what other reason there were for it happening the way it did.

We also found out were the turtle we found last week came from! I guess there is a gal that lives by the family with the lost dog that has the mom and dad turtle, they gal didn't know that when they lay their eggs they don't put them all in one spot, so some hatched and she didn't know it till later, so there are about 30 little turtle running around in the area, the family with the dog found there's about the same time we found ours. It was cool, she was able to tell us exactly what kind of turtle he is, and about how big he will get, I think she said the mother is about 150lbs and the father was 90 lbs that could be reversed I can't remember which was which, he is an African Sulcata Desert Tortoise, the biggest tortoise in Africa, knowing the name I googled it and now I know more about how to take care of it, so that was nice to find out.

Advice

My sister called me on Saturday night for a recipe of course we talked about everything but the recipe!! The conversation got deep, she has been having a hard time dealing with some stuff, she isn't sure how to over come the feelings that she has or even why she has certain feelings. I have dealt with similar feelings and even situations that she is going through all tho I never thought that I would be the one giving the advice, since she is the one that (unknowingly) helped me though my issues. Have you ever had times were you wonder what you would say to someone if they asked you a specific question? How would you answer? Would you know the answer? I have thought on this many times, but never about the questions that she asked me. When she started asking me questions the answers just came out of my mouth, I didn't even have to think about the questions. There were many times I asked myself were are these answers were coming from? I knew the answer my Father in Heaven was giving the answers I was just a vessel. In fact many of the answers that I gave her helped me, and gave me closure. Both my sister and I needed to hear what was being said. I am so grateful for that conversation, for the answers I got and the answers and advice I was able to give, I am thankful to my sister for asking the questions and my Father in Heaven for the answers and the comfort that came with them.

Deep cleaning

I got pretty zealous over the weekend and deep cleaned my bedroom. I realized last week as I was getting on the kids about how messy their rooms are I realized(with the help of my daughter) that my room was messier then theirs combined! I can't believe I let it get that bed, but my room is right off the front living room so if I am in a hurry to clean up for company stuff will usually get thrown into my room and then forgotten about, then it just piles up until you can't see the floor or the dressers. Saturday morning I got up, got the laundry done and once Ellie was down for her nap I went to work, I started at 10 a.m. and didn't get done with it till around 4 and even then there was still a basket of stuff that needed to be put away and some odds and ends on the floor, but I had to stop to feed the kiddos and then I needed to get some posters for my ward Halloween party done so I could have them Sunday(I know I am such a procrastinator) so I didn't finish the room completely on Saturday but it already looked 100% better than it had before. I didn't work on it on Sunday, cause I just didn't want to! So today I finally finished cleaning my room, Marryne was amazed, Kaleb didn't seem to care except that we got rid of the humongo entertainment center that was just piled with junk, this was Kaleb's favorite jungle gym.

I found many things through my cleaning endeavor somethings that I had been looking for and others that I really could have done without ,like food the kids stashed, or a colony of ants under my bed I know ICK right!! I am still itchin, it really brings home the sayin "Don't let the bed bugs bite", I had to spray down the room and let it sit for awhile, I really hate ants they I give me the heebie geebie's!! Once the chemical smell was gone I figured it was safe and I could finish cleaning, once the room was all done and vacuumed I had the kids come in and sit on the floors and I told them the doe's and don'ts of mama's room, starting with NO FOOD or drinks of any kind, and no toys I had 2 baskets full of toys that came out of there and no getting into our drawers and pulling out clothes!! I had them each repeat the new rules to me a few times just to get my point across, and every once in awhile I will walk by them and ask what mommy's bedroom rules are just so they don't forget and in case they do I decided that I will keep it locked!

I feel much better about the my ward Halloween Party now, once I sent around the sign up sheets, and talked to a few people I am much less worried now than I was. Everything seems to be falling into place, now all I really need to worry about is getting some volunteers to run some of the games and someone who would be willing to do face painting(other than myself)and I will be set. My sister gave me the idea of a Chili Cook off and I got some good response when I announced it on Sunday. So now instead of worrying I am getting excited and so are the kids they can't wait to wear their costumes!

Spike

Yesterday was picture day at the kids school, we had a late start getting up so I was rushing to get Kaleb showered and ready for school with only about 20 mins to do so, and I had to get Ellie dressed and fed. Marryne put Hershey outside like she does every morning, well Hershey seemed to be having a conniption and I didn't want to her wake the neighbors so Marryne let her back in the house, and man that dog wouldn't stop whining to go outside which isn't normal for her, but I didn't have time to see what the deal was. I got Kaleb all ready to go and while we were waiting for the bus I told Ryne to let the dog out again since all the whining was driving me crazy, now this time Ryne came back with a report she kept telling me "mom there is a touwel outside" now Ryne has a had time saying certain sounds, I couldn't understand what she was saying I had her repeat it a few times with know luck of understanding the bus arrived so I told her that I would check it out once I got Kaleb on the bus well I didn't I completely forgot all about it. After Kaleb got on the bus I took a few minutes to have some breakfast, then I had to start getting Ryne ready for school with some fabulous picture day hair! Ryne didn't bring up showing me whatever it was that she saw, but the stinkin dog kept wanting to go outside, she was non-stop whining and barking she was really driving me insane, well once Ryne was off to school and Kaleb was home veggin on the couch I let Hershey outside and guess what I found on my back porch steps? Something I never expected to be there and something that Hershey was not very fond of. Give up? Should I tell ya? A turtle yup ya heard me right a turtle now I have heard many stories of people finding turtles in their yards but I never expected to find one on my back porch on his back. By the looks of it Hershey was using this poor little guy as a chew toy, I really didn't think he was alive.Once I rescued the poor thing and brought him into the house I put 2 and 2 together Ryne was trying to tell me that there was a "T U R T L E" on the back porch, DUH why didn't I realize that earlier!? It totally makes sense too, the way Hershey was acting like there was just something that she wanted to get at, the more I thought about how much the dog had been outside and how the turtle was when I found him I started to feel really bad that I hadn't taken the time to look at what Ryne was tryin to show me.

Well I brought the turtle in the house, now I may be a mom, child expert, cook, wifvfe, seamstress, maid,nurse and many other countless things one thing I am not is a turtle expert. I had no idea what to do with the poor thing, of course he was all bottled up in his shell, I wasn't even sure if he was alive, I was hoping he was cause other wise I would feel awful if this poor thing died cause I ignored my daughter when she wanted to show me what she saw. The first thing I thought was to look it up on line, the only problem was that I had no idea what kind of turtle this little guy was, I didn't even know where to begin. I googled pet turtles and got tons of results which really weren't all that helpful cause none of the turtles looked like the one I had. So I googled images and found one that looked just like my little guy, the only problem was the picture was linked to some cooking site(!?)so it had no information whatsoever on the turtle not the name of it nothin. So I hit a dead end and I was getting tired of going to different sites only to find nothing! I remembered a few Sunday's back Ryne's Sunday school teacher had brought a turtle of a lesson, so I decided to e-mail her the picture and see if she could help me out cause I had no idea what I was dealing with. That was a very smart thing to do she told me he was a land turtle and what to feed him, to put him in a box with some sand, grass some water and food and just let him be, she said he was probably just traumatized and that he would(if he was still alive) eventually come out to eat or drink. After an hour or so I checked on him and he had decided to grace me with his presence, which was a big relief to me.

When Dana called as he was leaving work I told him that we might(if it wasn't dead) have a new pet and I went on to tell him the story. I decided that when Ryne got home from school that I would ask her to show me what she had seen on the porch, and then surprise her with the turtle when she saw that he wasn't there. Now this sounded like a good idea at the time but it turned out it really wasn't my best idea!Why? you ask, I will tell you why. When I got Ryne off the bus she as crying, the driver told me that she had been crying since she got on and that she kept saying she as thirsty and that I forgot to put her water bottle in her back pack. So at this point I should have aborted my plan and just told her the good news about the turtle but I didn't. I asked her about what she saw and asked her to show me we walked around the back and she climbed the steps only to find disappointment the turtle was gone, she thought the dog ate it (which there was evidence that Hershey was using the turtle as a chew toy), she broke down, I mean she was hysterical all I could think was "bad mommy bad mommy". Now at this point I really should have given up the charade BUT I didn't, I just played it off and told her maybe it went home, or something this didn't help she couldn't even talk through the tears, I led her into the house and walked her over to the table and Dana presented her with the turtle and we asked her if that was the one she had seen, she said yes through her tears, help the turtle and told me that I wasn't very funny!

By the time Ryne was given the turtle he was pretty use to us, Dana had him on the table and he was walking all over the place the kids enjoyed watching him while we discussed names, after many names were suggested we let Ryne make the final decision and she chose Spike (my choice would have been Survivor:)). We talked about how to take care of him, and how to hold him and all that jazz, Ryne was just thrilled with the idea of having a pet turtle, I mean she has been wanting one ever since that day in Sunday school, in a un-expected way her wish came true. Kaleb was captivated by the turtle all though we did have to explain that this turtle wasn't a mutated "Ninja Turtle" and that he couldn't talk or do kung fu, Kaleb took this news pretty hard he was very disappointed! Ellie even seems to like Spike she got a close up look at him when they were both crawling on the floor!

Today we got out our old fish bowl and the kids helped make him a new little home, at least a temporary one until we can getting him something a little bigger at least it's better than the box he was in. The kids are just thrilled, I thought it was cute today Ryne told me "mom this is a running turtle not a swimming one!" it took me a second to realize she meant that it was a land turtle not a water turtle. I figured that we would go to the library and get some books on turtles, the kids are thrilled with the idea of learning more about Spike. Even though we have only had little Spike for 2 days I have come to like him a lot, I mean turtles really are the perfect pets, they don't bark, or whine, or drool or shed all over the place,they don't poop and pee on the carpet ,they don't eat much and they are definitely not demanding, really turtles (at least land turtles) are the perfect pet and not to mention he was free ya got to like free!! So that's the story of how Spike came to our family.

Busy Busy

Ellie and I get the pleasure of being sick! We have both come down with a bad cold, we are so congested we can hardly breathe! Ellie has it worse than me cause she is teething right now, the poor sweet baby is so miserable! I'm trying to do what I can for her but it's really hard when you have no idea exactly what wrong, I mean I know she has a cold and she is teething but I know there's more to it than that but I can't really help her. I ran out of Tylenol so I can't help her that way, we've been giving her teething tablets but that only seems to work for a couple of hrs then she is back to being miserable. So far the other kids are fine, Kaleb started with a runny nose on Sunday but it cleared up by Tuesday, he seems to be fine now, Ryne hasn't gotten sick at all Dana has had a sore throat here and there, but other than that I think he is fine, I guess Ellie and I are just the lucky ones to be full blown sick!

Picture day is tomorrow, so I need to come up with a cute and simple style for Ryne. I did a cute one today I thought I might do the same one tomorrow, but curl it all cute and add some flowers or ribbon. Kaleb seems to have forgotten all about the bus forgetting to pick him up and drop him off! He loves to go to school but he is just as excited when he gets home, he loves to show and tell me all the things he did at school, he's learned a couple of new songs with cool actions.

I got the fliers and sign up sheets all made up and ready for the ward party, I was going to print one off so I could go make copies and wouldn't you know it my printer is out of ink and I have no money to get more till pay day next week and I need them for Sunday isn't that wonderful!? Once I get my laundry going I think I am going to attempt to make a bean bag toss game for the carnival, once that's done I will raid my fabric and make bean bags to go with it. Then I think I will finish up the other game I started to make, if I keep busy I won't focus so much on feeling like crap :).

Conference

All I can say about General Conference this year is WOW what amazing and powerful messages. I honestly felt that all the talks were directed right at me and my family, I really needed to hear what the prophets and other speakers had to say. I have felt the spirit so strong these last 2 days and oh how wonderful it feels! The talks that were given were truly inspired, some of them answered questions while others gave us much needed comfort. I am so grateful for my Father in Heaven and for all the prayers he answers.

On a little lighter note we got some new neighbors across the street, a very nice family with 4 kids. I noticed them moving in this afternoon, Dane went over to help and then later we took the kids over they we dyin to "meet the neighbors", even though their kids are older Ryne and Kaleb had tons of fun playin with them. They have 2 boys and 2 girls ages 16, 13, 12, and 10, their girls were goo goo over Ellie. It's nice to finally have some neighbors it's been about a yr since the old ones moved out, it's been kinda lonely, and I think we are going to get along just fine.

Halloween

I feel like it's been forever since I have blogged but in reality it's only been a couple of days! Some would say I am addicted:) Anyway I have been workin my fingers to the bone with Ryne's Halloween costume, the bulk of the costume didn't take me long at all, it's the little stuff that's a pain in the butt like the gold belt, and the red boot covers and I'm sure that if I had a pattern it would be a cinch but I don't, the belt was easy, the boot covers on the other hand are proving to be a little tricky! I have never done boot covers before so I sat here and picked it apart and figured out a way to do it, I did it and it turned out great well at least the first one did and guess what I didn't write down what I did or make a pattern of the pieces so the second one didn't turn out so well, lucky for me I have plenty of fabric so I will try again when my brain starts workin!! :) Besides that Ryne loves her Super Girl Costume, Kaleb is even a little jealous, in fact we caught him wearing it the other day!! I think he just likes the cape, I actually made him a cape to but I have to put some ties on it first and I just haven't gotten to it yet.

I was going to make Ellie a flower but I changed my mind, I actually remembered the very first costume that Ryne wore, she was an adorable lady bug!! For some reason I had completely forgotten about it, till I opened once of the Halloween boxes and found it. Ryne and Ellie were both born in January, and Ellie is petite like Ryne was so I think it will be a perfect fit and best of all I won't have to make her one. I love to sew but right now planning the ward party is my main focus. I couldn't figure out what I was going to be for Halloween and it was really stressing me out why I don't know but it was. I guess it's more for the Halloween party how can I encourage the adults to dress up if I don't? I have a mid evil skirt that I made a few Halloweens ago that I could wear again, but I remembered how heavy and itchy it was, and it's still pretty hot here in Az so I think I have decided against it, Dana came up with a good idea though and it will be super easy(I think), he wants to go as Mr. Smith off of the Matrix, and he thought it would be cool if I went as Trinity, I figure sweet he has a suit and that's pretty much all the Smith wears plus sunglasses and Trinity wears all black with some awesome shades ya can't get much easier than that!! I actually already have a black jacket that will work now all I need are some black pants, shirt and some sweet high heel boots and I will be set. We even have some black hair spray stuff from last year that will make me look more the part. Anyway I think I am going to do it, I mean really how many people do you see going as Mr.Smith and Trinity?:) Kaleb is being difficult as far as his costume is concerned, he was going to be Clark Kent with his superman shirt under his reporter clothe but he really wants to wear a cape so he might just be wearing his Superman pajamas with a sweet cape and of course is he does that then I will have to make him some boot covers as well SUPER that would be great!!(did ya catch the sarcasm!?)

I am getting really excited about the Ward Halloween Party, I was kinda worried at first but everything seems to be falling into place. Right now all I really need to do is make some fliers and sign up sheets made. The kids are excited as well, cause they get to as they say "twit or tweet". Now that I have written a novel I will go clean my house and get the kids ready for bed so that I can get some much needed crafting done.