$166.00 dollars later

Last Thursday our dishwasher broke. By Friday afternoon both Scott and I had fiddled around with it and decided that it wasn't an easy brainless fix like the examples they give in the owner's manual. Yes, it is plugged in. Yes, I have closed the door. Yes, I pushed the start button. Who are they writing these manuals for anyways kindergartners? And as luck would have it we had entered the weekend and thought there was no way we were getting it fixed until next week.

All of a sudden I was faced with this realization that the dishes had to be washed by hand. You mean I have to wash all of them? Really? Isn't that up there with taking your clothes outside and using a washboard on them?

It is during these times when I forget how convenient a dishwasher is and how use to luxury living I have become. The thought of washing everything we touched seemed archaic.

After standing at the sink for an hour washing pots, plates, silverware and cups that had backed up for a day, I banned the use of any kitchen gadget that I didn't deem as absolutely necessary. We ate off paper plates and used paper cups for 2 days.

And this afternoon it was discovered that a tiny seed was the culprit of the massive shutdown. I am happily loading my dishwasher and will definitely be writing down in my gratitude journal how grateful I am for this wonderful appliance.

It Happened

Just one day shy of his eleventh birthday.

Taylor telling me on the way to school that on your birthday during lunch the entire cafeteria will sing to you.

Me thinking to myself that maybe I will check him out at lunch time and take him to lunch.

Me: "Taylor what time is your lunch?"

Taylor thinking I am going to come to the cafeteria: "No that's o.k. you don't have to come."

Me: "What?"

Taylor rather emphatically: "Not that's o.k. you don't have to come. That is embarrassing."


My son is embarrassed by my presence. :(

Monthly Menu

A year ago I took an organizing class where the presenter encouraged us to make weekly and monthly menus. I had been doing a decent job at weekly menus until the holidays came around and that faded into the background while we were decorating cookies and drinking eggnog.

Last month I decided to forgo the weekly and try a monthly calendar. Can I tell you that was the best decision I made last month? It took a total of 25 minutes to write the menu down and that included the 8 times I was interrupted.

Each day of the week has a type of dinner (beef, poultry, easy, Mexican, Italian etc.) which makes it easy to decide what meal goes on which day. I just pulled out my cook book turned to my recipe page that lists a lot my recipes by type (I organized this last year) and wrote them down on a day of the month.



Every morning the guesswork is gone and I don't go in circles trying to figure out what to make and what sounds good. It also makes grocery shopping a breeze. One quick look at my calendar and I know what I need to get for the week! This is a great idea.

Size 11 Slim

I find that every so often I will hear or see something that makes me stop and realize how fast my kids are growing up. Lately it has been Taylor and lately it has been his jeans.

Once or twice a week while I am folding laundry I will pull a pair of jeans out of the basket. After I shake the wrinkles out of them there is a split second of confusion while I try to figure out who they belong to. My first thought is that they are mine, simply because they are too long to be any of the boys. "None of them could possibly fit into jeans this long" I say to myself. A split second later I realize they are a little short for me and it all of a sudden hits me that they are Taylors. How can it be that his legs fit into this size of pant that are so close to mine? It is simply not possible. But in fact it is and he is growing up right before my eyes.

Good Activity

Try making a duct tape wallet with your kids. A bit sticky, but easy, cheap and fun to do. And hey, if you have a girl kiddo they also have instructions for a purse!



Did you know duct tape comes in all sorts of colors? I had no idea until I watched this video. Of course we have to announce who we cheer for in our house.


There are a ton of instructional videos out there. This is just the one I picked.
http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=33424178386

Me...The Ringmaster

This is how a lot of my afternoons go. About 3:25 a boy named Max calls on the phone. He very politely tells me who he is (I already know because I have caller ID and because I expect his phone call at this time) and then very politely asks me if he may speak to Bennett. I then very politely tell him that Bennett is not home yet and I will be absolutely sure to have him call him back when he gets home in 20 minutes. He is calling to see if Bennett can play before anyone else does.

The boys arrive home 20 minutes later and I brace myself. After the message is relayed to Bennett the phone again begins to ring and ring and ring. I half expect it to vibrate off its base because it is ringing so much. Toshi, David, J.T., Ryan, Carter and Ethan to name a few. All these boys are calling wanting to play with my boys.

That is when my job as ringmaster begins. "Now who is coming over?"...."Where are you going and when are you coming home?"....."Wait, I need to pick you up? When?"...."Who is Jacob?"

The ringing of the phone is replaced by the ringing of the doorbell. But they don't all choose to come through the front. Some enjoy the back door and the side door. Do you know that boys come in packs? Very similar to a pack of dogs now that I think about it. They smell and eat that way too as a matter of fact.

It is not uncommon for a group of them to breeze into my house and down the stairs before I can even say hello. And it is not uncommon to see an unfamiliar face as well. "Who's that kid?" You see they like to bring their friends and cousins and neighbors along.

And while I am comparing my boys to dogs, do you know that boys also like to roam? Generally they are not satisfied at playing at one house. They like to go to multiple houses in one afternoon to partake of the entertainment everywhere. My job as ringmaster is constantly changing. One kid comes, 2 leave, and then another comes..... All the while I am trying to keep track in my head who is at my house at one given time. I would hate to have a mother call asking for her boy and me have no idea if he is here or not.


I really should take advantage of this opportunity and upgrade my boy's shoes.

I hear a lot of muffled yelling and screaming and the occasional cry from our playroom. This is the only time I go down and assess the injury other than making sure everyone is playing fairly. The games they come up with are quite remarkable. Football, soccer, acrobatics, dodge ball, something with murder in the name, and others I will not mention for fear that mothers out there will cringe. Hey they are boys and they need an outlet.



After awhile they decide they are hungry and thirsty so up they come...in a pack... to drink and devour anything that I offer them. I am a big fan of popcorn. Very cheap and will feed a lot of kids. The only downside is the mess, which I threaten and tell them I will give them a job for each kernel I find on the ground. They make a mess anyway.





Down they go again to play until about 5:30 or so when it is time to go home. I take a deep sigh as they leave and say "See you tomorrow." My job as ringmaster is over for the day.

The Wahl

Years ago, before I had this many boys I decided to buy a razor and cut Scott and Taylor's hair as a way to save money. I went to Walmart and bought a $20 Wahl. 4 boys and the same husband later I am still cutting. Every 2 or 3 months I line them up. Same haircut, because frankly I really don't know what I am doing. But with a lot of trial and error and a lot of "oops" the finished cut doesn't look that bad.

Taylor is the easiest. He just likes his buzzed as short as possible. Chase I buzz as well. That 2 minutes is as long as he will sit still. Scott and Owen are fairly easy because their hair has some curl to it. I have learned that curl is much more forgiving of mistakes with the scissors. Which takes us to Bennett. He is not a big fan of buzzed hair, so I cut it with a combination of the buzzers and scissors. Like his mom, he has thick, straight hair. Very unforgiving of the mistakes. It is his head that I usually cringe at when I am done. But I have learned that the difference between a respectable cut and a bad one is just 1 week. We paid for that Wahl within a few haircuts. A great purchase all around.