Quick Fishy Craft

So I don't know if this was something I saw somewhere or if it was something I thought up. So if you've seen these made somewhere let me know so that I can give them the proper reference.

I've been wanted to do fun activities for FHE. What's hard is that Gabe's and Caleb's age difference is such that what would be fun for Caleb is boring for Gabe and vice versa. But "going fishing" is kinda fun for all ages.

Supplies:
10 Washers
Foam paper
10 Brads
Scissors
Hot Glue Gun
Glitter/Decorating
Magnet
String
Stick
Small piece of material to back a pouch for the magnet

The BEST part of this craft is that I already had everything and did not spend one penny!

1) cut out the fish however you'd like, but make the nose long so you can fold the washer in it

2)fold the nose around the washer and fasten with a brad

4) Do this 10 times

5) With the extra foam paper cut out fins

6) Hot glue them on the fish

7) Decorate the fish (notice that I glued the fins on backwards [except for one]!? Oh Well!)

8) Make a material pouch (I don't have a picture) to place the magnet in. Tie it to the stick with string and you can go fishing!

I was going to try the fish out for FHE, taping a song, scriptures, and who says the prayers onto the back but before we could have FHE I fell asleep. I was so exhausted yesterday from getting Gabe up to go to seminary and doing household things that I passed out and didn't wake up for 13 hours!

5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Chole

Well now that Chole has done a post with 5 things you probably didn't know about me, I need to reciprocate and tell you all 5 things that you probably didn't know about Chole.

1. Chole is VERY good with a handgun. The first time she ever held and fired a gun was during her visit to Arizona when she and I went shooting with Joe, my brother's former partner (from Phoenix Police Dept.) Joe has been a part of our family for years and was happy to go shooting with us and let Chole try out his Glock 27, which is his back-up weapon. Chole did very well with all of my guns but she loved how compact Joe's Glock was compared to my Glock 21. Joe looked at me with a very surprised look when Chole kept placing round after round through the center of the target that was about 10 yards away. Since then Chole has gotten even better and during the NRA pistol course we took, she earned the nickname Annie Oaks, from the instructor and the police officer teaching the class because of her well-placed shots. Everyone just kept telling me "Don't ever make her mad or you'll be in trouble." This was all with her very own brand new handgun that I got her, which she had only fired once prior to the pistol course.

2. Chole absolutely LOVES riding on my motorcycle (at least before the motor gave up the ghost) She really enjoys when we take nice smooth turns that let us lean the bike over very far and she loves the thrill of it. She is eager to learn to ride a motorcycle and I can't wait to teach her. Unfortunately the motor fried in my motorcycle so we need to part it out to get enough $$$ together to buy a better one. I'm hoping to get one that Chole can handle as well so she can start enjoying the thrill of making the bike do what she tells it to. Our biggest challenge with teaching Chole to ride is her height. Most motorcycles that she can reach the ground on are cruisers (Harley type bikes) which are nowhere near as much fun as sport bikes and don't entice Chole in the least. I may need to modify a sport bike for her and lower it, at least until she is more comfortable with holding it up at stops. Then we can raise it back up to give it the cornering clearance it needs to let her really lean it over.

3. Chole is actually the person who get me to pursue law school. I have always looked at situations from a legal perspective, but I never even noticed it. I guess it's that whole "outside the box" thing. Once she pointed it out, I realised how right she was. She said I just need to go to school to become a lawyer. So I started looking into what is required to become a lawyer and realized that I should definitely go for it like Chole said. I know that Chole sometimes wishes I wasn't going to school because of the time I must invest into it rather than spending that time at home. But I'm thankful that Chole noticed this attribute of mine and encouraged me to go to college.

4. Chole has a strange obsession with change. I'm talking about change, as in coins. Chole would gladly trade anyone a $100 bill for 10,000 pennies.....just so she could count the pennies and fill up a huge jug or bucket with them. I always put my spare change in a little cup on my dresser and even while Chole and I were dating, she would dump it all out just so she could count it. Then sometimes she will just put dollar bills in the cup to trade out for the change so she can play with it. It's funny and I think it's totally cute to watch her get all excited when she gets a handful of change.

5. Chole is OCD (CDO as she says), about eyebrows. She constantly pinches my eyebrows and pulls hard to remove any loose hairs to thin them out. She does this all the time and has confessed to me that when she sees people walking around the store with bushy eyebrows, she has to fight the urge to just walk up to them and start pulling at them to groom their eyebrows. It's definitely an odd thing to be obsessive about but it sure isn't a bad thing. I find it quite funny and entertaining, even though she is always ripping hair out of my face.

Reasons I know G is Back

G has been back in Ohio for a week now. This has been bittersweet for me. But one thing I do know is that I can definitely tell G is back here and these are my reasons:

Our refrigerator is empty -- I usually need to shop every week when he's here. For the 7 weeks he was gone I went shopping maybe twice.

I am doing 3X the laundry -- Now I know what you are saying..."make him do the laundry!" Which would make sense if G were responsible. If he were to do the laundry I would be afraid that he would brake the washer or dryer and use a TON of detergent. So for me, it's not worth the trouble making him do his laundry.

This goes with the top one -- Yesterday G made 2 grilled cheese sandwiches and used a half of a stick of butter! HALF A STICK!

I can't keep my house clean -- It seems that more places, which are used or not used, are filthy. There's too much to do.

Over the weekend EVERY SINGLE dish in our house was used and is dirty in the sink.

There is more yelling and arguing and crying from KK. KK does not like being told what to do by G. But sometimes when they are riding their bikes KK NEEDS to listen to him.

We are locking our room again. When we leave and know G will be in the house, we lock our bedroom because there are things in there that we do not want him getting in to, such as the guns.

Now there are some good things about G being here...like there's someone to clean up Zero's poop...Hopefully throughout this year I will find some more redeeming qualities in G because right now all I can focus on are the negatives. But I really have been trying to be better. Mr H. has to continually remind me to let things go, which is very difficult for me to do.

"Maybe He's a Pedophile!?"

Ok, so about a week and a half ago KK asks, "Mom, what's a Pedophile!?" And not wanting to lie to him I told him that it's someone who likes to hurt little children. They try and steal them and touch their privates and this is why you NEVER talk to strangers. He looked at me and went off to play. And I sat back on the couch and replayed in my head all the conversations that I had had the last 2 days...none of which had ANYTHING to do with pedophiles. Which begs the question..."where in the world did KK hear that word!?" This is NOT a word I or my family say on a continuous basis nor is it a word that he has picked up from the TV because I don't have cable (my parents do). I'm still wracking my brain over it.

Fast forward to today. We are at my parents for dinner. After dinner, we sit down to watch a Criminal Minds show my dad recorded for us about a guy who may have murdered a couple young (10-11 year old) boys. KK was watching it with us he turned to me, and whispered in my ear, "Maybe he's a pedophile!?" I was shocked because 1)I totally forgot I had that conversation with him 2)That he understood the meaning I gave him and 3)That he remembered a big word like that and used it properly. KK was right...he was a pedophile and was sent to jail.

I am just amazed that the things I say really do have meaning to KK and that he is able to understand those meanings. Sometimes I think KK is too smart for his own good!

I'm an Aunt Again!

This year has been the year of babies. JM had JEM 3 weeks ago and on the 26th of August we welcomed baby number two. Mr H.'s oldest sister, Cindy, and her husband, Rudy, welcomed a little girl at 12:50pm (Arizona Time). Little baby N weighed 7 pounds and 11 ounces and she was 20.75 inches long. Mom and baby did great. Cindy only pushed about 4 times and she came out. I was very honored to have them call me just as soon as the baby came out. Sarah, Mr H.'s youngest sister, called me and put me on speaker phone. I could hear the hustle and bustle of everything and little N's tiny cries. Mr H. and I wish we could have been there to welcome this precious spirit into this world but sometimes we can't always have everything we want.

Cindy and baby were already sent home today and they all are adjusting to having a baby and a 4 year old. R, who's the big brother, is loving his little sister and is a pretty good help. Congrats again Cindy, Rudy, and R!

A day with JEM

JEM had a doctor's appointment and is 8 pounds now. Since her doctor is on my side of town JM wanted to hang out. She met us at JoAnn Fabrics. We drove to my house and decided to go swimming. JEM has not gone swimming yet...this was her first experience. I let JM borrow a suit and JEM had a onsie on but before we headed to the pool we had to snap some pictures of the cousins together.

KK's attempt at getting her to smile



The pool didn't phase JEM...it never woke her up! She was just chillin like she did this everyday. While JM and KK played in the pool JEM and I cuddled. But once her chin started to quiver I took her out of the pool and wrapped her in a sun warmed blanket. She was a little uncomfortable until I felt the warm rumble on my palm that was holding her bottom. Yes, she had just pooped in my hand! After that, it was time to go.

Once at home, I made dinner for KK, JM, and myself. KK put in "Little Rascal's" movie and wanted to hold JEM.


After about 5 minutes he told me to take her...he's funny. KK really loves her, he calls her his, "little sister". Anyway, after dinner, JM wanted to take a nap...she's a very tired new mom. So KK, JEM, and I played. This is what we did:
Cuddled with her

Watched her dance. JEM LOVES to Dance

KK was a great helper and wanted to be in the picture too

Watched her ride a horse. She also LOVES to ride horses

Cleaning Through KK's Eyes

I told KK to clean his room and this is what I found:



KK...sometimes Momma would like to just shove EVERYTHING into the closet and be done with it too...nice try!

THE BIGGEST BED-HOG

As I mentioned in the previous post, KK is THE BIGGEST BED-HOG and I am not exaggerating about it, he also can sleep pretty much where ever he wants. He is up and down, twisted and turned, left-side and right. He isn't comfortable unless he is moving around all over in bed. Take a look for yourself (just an FYI, this is a picture overload post):



September 2007




November 2007



He could sleep even when I was doing homework



August 2008



February 2009



March 2009



June 2009



July 2009 on the airplane to Arizona



December 2009




January 2010



October 2010




November 2010




December 2010 (1 night)






February 2011



March 2011 (I really did put him in his bed that night, he just moves around so much at night)



April 2011 (I was out and had no idea Caleb was on my like that. Tom went to climb into bed and realized that there was no room for him)



May 2011




July 2011 (at the fireworks)



Yes, he is a bed hog, he moves around in bed so much...it would be interesting to see a time-lapse just to see how much he really does move around in bed and he can literally sleep anywhere.

Questions Answered

Remember this?

I've decided to blog Charity's suggestion about KK and G sharing a bedroom, how they get along, and if I will ever adopt G.

When G first moved here March 2010 Mr H. was living in a 1 bedroom very small apartment. There was no room to squeeze another bed into the bedroom and Mr H. thought, "heck no" on sharing a bed with G so he partitioned off the living room and made a little make-shift bedroom for G. Once G left for Arizona to see his mom that summer, I got got rid of the make-shift room and started adding a little of my junk to the apartment since we were going to be married only 2 weeks later. This tiny 1 bedroom apartment was to be our home for 4 people for the next 2 months. KK slept with us, he had a toddler bed that fit perfectly at the foot of our bed. G slept in the living room but there was no privacy for him. It was cramped and all 4 of us were at each other's throats. It was horrible.

After those exhausting 2 months we moved into a much bigger 2 bedroom 2 bath condo. We got a pretty sweet deal on the place too, which always makes it nicer. With some paint on the walls and our stuff moved in we were able to call it home. It is a lot bigger, but we seemed to have outgrown it at times. We have a living room, TV room, large kitchen, dining room, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, small backyard, and 2 car garage. When we first moved in...the boys shared a room. This worked out great for a while, except when G had to get ready for school and would wake KK up (sometimes on purpose). Then after a while, KK would wake up in the middle of the night with a nightmare and come sleep with us. KK's the littlest person in the family but the biggest bed-hog (that's another post). Then after a while we just set KK's small bed at the foot of our bed for convenience and KK usually sleeps in our room. While G was in Arizona this summer we occasionally put KK in his room, but it never fails that he ends up back in our room.

TV room

Master bathroom entrance

Master Bedroom

Kitchen


KK and G get along pretty well. It's hard because G is 14 and KK is only 4 so finding something they both can enjoy is a hard task. Also G is way too rough at times. And G is THE BIGGEST tattle-tale and sometimes I really don't care what KK is doing as long as he is not bothering me. But mostly they pretty much get along. But I still do not trust him to watch KK as in babysitting. I wish I could but no, they don't get along that well.

And as for adopting G. I will probably never adopt him. He has a mom in Arizona. She would never give her rights up as a parent and I would never want her to. G will be an adult in less than 4 years and so there's no reason for me to adopt him. He knows that he is a part of this family and no legal adoption papers would make any difference on that matter.