Never Enough Cooks in the Kitchen

Ellie, Colleen, Aleah and Kenna chilling on the porch with popcicles.

You know you are friends when:

• someone visits you for 5 days and nights with their 4 kids and you are sad when they go!
• they feel comfortable cooking in your kitchen and cleaning your house
• they run a few loads of their laundry and wash and fold all of yours too! THANK YOU!
• you can debate politics and not get offended
• you consider remodling the workshop so they can stay there next summer
• you have agreed that their son can have his choice of your daughters to marry :)
• you are bummed that their husband doesn't get to visit and hang out too
• you are friends with the Cooks!

The Cooks came to visit on their way to Utah to visit family. Doug stayed Sunday to participate in blessing Kate at church and then went back to Lafayette to finish fixing up their house (he ended up selling it!). Tara and the kids stayed and we all had tons of fun.

Monday, Zoe and Harry learned how to ride two-wheelers in all of 10 minutes and were zipping around the church parking lot across the street from our house all day long. Harry was even doing tricks where he took his feet off the pedals and put them up on the handle bar. He wiped out a couple of times and left our house with a huge bruise on his cheek.

For Family Home Evening the kids did a skit about the pioneers and the Word of Wisdom and then got to run in the sprinkler with their clothes on! Wow - such nice moms!

Ellie was our baby holder - everyone else had to whine to get a turn to hold the baby. I got so spoiled - I am going to have to take care of the Kate now!

Tuesday we had an un-Birthday party for all of the kids. Emily, Zoe, Ellie and I had July birthdays and Colleen's is in August. None of us really had done anything for birthdays so the kids made decorations out of construction paper and we made homemade ice cream. Everyone got some ice cream and brownie and got to blow out their own candle. Then they got to sleep out in the tent. They all went to bed pretty well - Brian slept out with them - but we had a very laided back, VERY early to bed Wednesday because there were some grouchy kids.

Brenda resting for 5 minutes!

Brian's mom Brenda was also visiting and was a life saver. She watched the kids ride their bikes, took them to the library and on LONG walks, did dishes and weeded. Eight kids would have been MUCH harder without her help. I'm glad she gets to stay and visit even longer.

Thursday night the kids all started to rock out to the CD that goes with my piano book. Simple Joys! We will miss you guys!

Shouldn't Water Be Free?

I guess there is always a cost for everything and I am VERY grateful for indoor plumbing but ... I got our water/sewer bill today! $80! Is that a lot? I think it is. Take my poll and we can see what average water/sewer cost.

In Indiana we had our own well and septic system so there was not a monthly bill asociated with it. I remember someone in our ward saying how we were so lucky not to have to pay for our water and I responded that yes, we didn't have to pay for water but we did have to pay to have our pump house removed and replumbed and a new water softener. Over $2,700 when all was said and done. I guess it all evens out in the long run.

Oops... It isn't as bad as I thought... I just looked at my bill again and $20 was a one time change charge. Still I am curious to know - and I think the polls are cool.

Before and After

I have been wanting to get my hair cut since before Kate was born and finally got around to it today. Not only was it getting too long but I have been having major frizz problems since I moved here. I had the lady style my hair and I am totally sold on flat irons and all they can do. Yep, I had never used one before. Pretty sad.

Another sad thing is that I noticed wrinkles and gray hair in the pictures! Where does the time and youth go!!!! I'm almost (I won't admit it yet) middle aged!

Gift Bag Giveaway

Kim is giving away this Charmed Gift Bag. I REALLY hope it comes with the charm pack of fabrics inside. My mom just made Kate a pinwheel quilt out of this fabric line and I would love to win some of the fabric! Check out her website for more info on how to enter the drawing. For instructions on how to make the bag go to Moda Bakeshop.

One Month Old

Kate is one month old today. She:

• spits up
• goes to bed at midnight
• wakes up at 3am and at 6am
• has distict poop events vs. poop all-the-time
• has broken out in baby acne
• wants to be held if awake
• hair has lightened from dark brown to lightish brown with blond highlights
• has survived hugs from Colleen
• has the cutest smile

Blueberries

Last monday we went to pick raspberries and blueberries at a local u-pick place. No, I am not going to gush about how much we saved because we didn't. I mentioned to the owner that I thought her prices were a little high and she pointed out that she was the only u-pick place in the county and when she brought her berries to the farmer's market she charged double and they sold like hot cakes. I guess she has a point but...we need some more competition.

Anyway, the girls had a blast and we picked some raspberries and blueberries. Aleah asked if we could go back again. So we went again on Wednesday and picked almost 15lbs of blueberries. The girls each picked as many as I did! It was amazingly relaxing. Emily and Aleah found their own bushes and picked silently, Colleen happily wandered between bushes but Kate seemed to think she needed to be held and fed. On both Monday and Wednesday I was the one who finally said that we needed to go.

I think we will go again. It is nice to be outside doing something productive and heavenly to be able to grab a handful of blueberries out of the bags on the counter everytime I walk by.

Our neighbors have also shared the bounty of their gardens and we have eight zuchini and three cabbages and a bag of brocolli we need to use. Augh! That is a lot of cabbage. I love summer!

My Name is Leila and I have a Reading Problem

I have a weakness for books. Anyone in my family could tell you this. During college I made myself a rule that I couldn't read fun books during the semester because I knew I would just read them instead of studying. I would make an exception during reading days. When I was at the library studying all day I would pick out something light from the Juvenile Fiction section on the 5th floor. I would make a deal with myself that I could read for 15 minutes now and then as a break from studying. Needless to say that worked for awhile and then I read for an hour and a half or two hours until the book was done and I had to go to work. Not super effective, but that is what reading days are for - reading.

I am having the same problem now. I have started reading while nursing Kate. Again 15 minutes of reading and then work and interact with the kids until she needs to eat again. It keeps me sane. However, in the last two weeks I have read: The two Octavian Nothing books, Wicked, Harry Potter #7 and #6, Catcher in the Rye (hello, swearing!), Ship of Fools and a Drowned Maiden's Hair. I decided I needed to add something a bit more classy to the mix if I was going to keep reading like this and have started Founding Mothers (revolutionary war nonfiction). Obviously, I have not been just reading while I feed Kate. I just can't stop! In my defense lots of the reading happens during the fussy time between 8 and midnight or when the kids are outside playing but still, my house would be a lot cleaner if I had read even one less book.

I don't know what it is about nursing but doing nothing or worse trying to deal with other children while nursing drives me nuts. While I nursed Aleah and Emily I was a total HGTV junkie. With Colleen I don't know what I did but here my drug of choice is reading. Worse still,I have a library that takes 10 minutes to walk to. It totally enables my problem - and Brian is my pusher - taking the girl's to the Library and bringing me books! I don't even know if I want to stop.

Maybe when the Cooks and Brian's Mom visit it will break the cycle - at least for awhile. But just in case it doesn't, what have you been reading this summer?

Emily's Autobiography

Today is Emily's Birthday. She wrote this autobiography at the end of the school year and I thought I would post it here as a Happy Birthday Tribute to her. She keeps on changing and growing up. Who would have guessed in the "pink" stage that she would go though a brown stage and wear 10 rubberbands as bracelets? Be sure to leave her a Happy Birthday wish and comment. Enjoy!

Hello, my name is Emily Gardunia. I was born July 8th 2000.

I had a brother but he died. My sister is Aleah. She was born in August (November). She likes baby dolls and dress up. She hates the woods. My other sister's name is Colleen. She says the few words she knows over and over - baby - mommy - dada - papa and more. She loves to sing in baby language.

Emily and Colleen

When I was 1 I went to Bolivia. We lives in an apartment then and I loved to chase cats. I used to love the swings and slides. I had a friend called Jimmy, but I called him Dee-Dee.

When I was 2 years old we moved to Texas. In Texas there are tons of fire ants. I did not have any fire ants where I used to live so I thought (the ant hill) was sand! So I picked up a handful and threw it. Then I picked up another handful and threw it. Then I screamed! - I was covered in ants! Then my mom came and saved me from the army of ants.

When I was 2 I went to Aunt Sandra's house. She had goats. She had lots of goats - just about a 1,000 (50 maybe?). Right before we came once a goat was born. We named him Number 4. He was one of my favorites. When we were there a goat was born and we named him National (she later named her cat National after the goat).

When I was 3 I loved pink and yellow. My brother was born dead. The umbilical cord got wrapped around his neck. We went to Mexico and there was a Kid's Club. When we went to breakfast we had to go a certain way so we didn't pass the Kid's Club (or else I would throw a fit and want to go there instead of eat). I loved to go to the greenhouse with my dad (he is a breeder). I love everything about them. The smell, the plants, the water on the floor.

When I was 4 I went to Carver Preschool. Then my sister Aleah was born. (this next part was crossed out but I am including it: "She never cried even when they pierced her foot. My dad says that I was the loudest baby in the hospital.")

Emily and Aleah in the hospital - Nov. 2004

When I was 5 at St. Thomas (for kindergarten) it was awesome. I had two friends. Their names were Lucy and Kaylee. When I was five I learned to cross stitch.

Lucy, Emily and Kaylee - May 2006

Then I turned 6 and moved to Indiana! At first I went to home school then I went to Cole. I came in the middle of 1st grade.

Emily - July 2006

Emily and Shaylyn- end of 2nd grade - May 2008

Then guess what happened? I turned 7 and my sister Colleen was born. I started 2nd grade and learned how to ride (horses, I think).

I started 3rd grade when I turned 8. While I was 8 I read all the Harry Potter books. I like to read and explore and I hate to move and write biographies. I hope you liked this biography about me.

Emily scratching Little Pig - Spring 2009

If You Decide to Walk to the Library...

The next in the "If you give a mouse a cookie" series

If You Decide to Walk to the Library...

You will have to get the girls their shoes.

If you get them their shoes, they won't want to get their hair brushed.

Once their hair is brushed, you will want a sling to carry the baby in.

After finding the perfect peice of fabric to rig into a sling, you will discover the baby has a messy diaper (as always).

If you cange her diaper, she will wake up and insist on eating.

If she eats, then she will need to be burped.

If you burp her, then she will spit up on you.

Once you decide the spit up is not enough to bother changing your shirt over, you will go outside to round up the girls.

Then the neighbor girl will ask if she can come.

If you say yes, she will want to push Colleen's stroller the whole way (good thing).

When you get to the library, Aleah will discover she needs to go all the way back downstairs to go to the bathroom. Thankfully, Emily is old enough to watch Colleen so you don't have to go en masse.

Once you get back, the baby will need to eat - again.

If you feed her, you will burp her.

If you burp her, she will spit up - tons this time - all over your shirt.

If you say they can check out books they will want to divide them all up and check them out on their own cards.

If you ask Emily to hold the baby while you deal with the checking out of Colleen and Aleah's books, she will say, "Yuck! The baby smells like spit up!"

To which you will respond, "Yes, and it is all over my shirt. Please go sit down and hold her while I check these out!"

Actually, it went really well all things considered. Monday was my first day on my own after my mom left and Brian went back to work. Yesterday we missed the baby's two week Dr. appt. because the diaper/eating/burping process made us too late. But we went shopping - thank goodness for places that load your groceries. The house is messy but the kids are happy and fed and I am not yelling or having a melt down. All in all, a sucessful two days.