The End of An Era

Well today is the end of an era in our family. We have been delivering the Tri-City Herald for at least the past 15 years, perhaps longer. But today was our last day. We have decided it is too much of a hassle and they are making it harder to be a "kid job." So we are done. All five of us went today whereas it is usually just two of us at a time, but we all wanted to do it the Last Day. Here is a picture of the kids with the very last paper at the very last house.

Proud Owners

WE ARE NOW THE PROUD OWNERS OF ONLY ONE HOUSE!

Conner's Right

I was talking to Conner as we were doing math and he asked me why he had to do such hard math. We have been doing borrowing and carrying and a bit of multiplication and fractions. At the time we had this conversation I was having him do mental math. Conner: Why do I have to do such hard math?
Me: Well, because you can.
Conner: Yeah, but I am only in kindergarten and this is a 2nd grade math book.
Me: Well, it isn't my fault someone in this house is really good at math. Now who do you suppose it is?
Conner: (NOT PAUSING TO THINK)Zach!

He must certainly be right. For the third year in a row Zach has won the golden bulldog for Pasco High School for math. Zach is really good in math, he is good in other subjects too and we are pleased with his good work.

Shelf Reliance Give Away

Shelf Reliance has the most awesome system of organizing your food storage for easy rotation. That is something I am terrible at. Here is the web address so you can get in on this giveaway. It is called Free on Friday. They will be having lots of giveaways so stay tuned to their site. http://www.shelfreliance.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/15/

Pizza on the Porch

Brad and Conner drew a chalk pizza on the porch. A big one with lots of pepperoni. I was kind of annoyed as it is on the porch and not on the driveway where rain and such can eventually wash it off. So the next morning I get up to take the kids on their paper route and there is all of these little black pellets all over this pizza. It was really weird and I was a bit worried about what animal left those little pellets. After coming home from doing the papers I kind of examined them a bit closer and decided they reminded me of when we had rabbits when I was growing up, except rabbits have green pellets. I used trusty google and decided that it must be a goat or sheep. Thanks goodness not a rat or mouse or a bat. I couldn't really figure out how that could have happened. Kylee said she heard Zoey barking in the middle of the night. So later that day as I was bringing Kaitlin home from piano lessons and we watched a goat go up Carl's (Jacob's next door neighbor) front steps. I decided it wasn't crazy then to have decided the pellets were goat pellets then, but it was a bit far for the small goat to travel. Then the next week I heard a sharp bark from Zoey in the middle of the day, the kind of bark she use to do at the other house when a squirrel went up one of our trees. So I opened the front door and their was the goat! It ran off with Zoey chasing it. Then last Sunday when we came home from church the goat was on the Moon's porch with Zoey barking at it from the outside and Roxie barking at it from the inside. As we drove up the goat ran off towards Carl's house with Zoey in hot pursuit, but she is too slow. I teased Brad and Conner for making such delicious pizza on our porch as it attracted a goat and we all know they will eat anything, perhaps even chalk pizza's.

P.S. I wanted to call the title Poop on the Porch - but didn't want to be so gross from the get-go.

Where's Michael, Courtney and Erin When You Need Them?

Many years ago Michael, Courtney and Erin decided to dig a humongous hole in the back yard. Then spent hours upon hours upon hours doing this. The hole was deep. The hole was wide. It even had a tunnel. I know that somewhere I have a picture of them all in the hole (there was plenty of space in the hole for them all to sit and stretch out very comfortably at the same time), but I am a bit tired to go find it. Well - why am I thinking about this summer event today? This is why!



Brad is holding the handle of a shovel and the blade of the shovel is at the bottom of the hole.

So why does Brad think he is Stanley Yelnats (better read Holes by Louis Sachar if you don't know who that is)? We are putting in the sewer at our old house, and of course, we are too tight to pay someone to do work we can do ourselves, so Brad and I have been digging DEEP holes for the past two days. (Zach dug for a few hours too.) The family who are interested in buying our home are using an FHA loan and it is a requirement that a sewer be installed. So now you can see how much we like to play in the dirt.

Bad Scooter, Bad!

Here is a picture of the infamous scooter and it's victim.

Conner broke his right arm - just fell off the scooter. Michael wanted to know how someone can fall such a short distance and do such damage. (at the most two feet - from a standing position) He chose a glow-in-the-dark cast - tried to take a picture in the dark - but it didn't work out so well - sorry. Conner was asked at MCP (his homeschool group) how he sleeps at night with a glow-in-the-dark cast and his response was, "With my eyes closed!" DUH! In a few weeks he will get a shorter cast, but right now it goes past his elbow and halfway up. Kind of big for such a little guy.

Zach, Zach, and More Zach

Today is his birthday! Hard to believe he is 17! Zach has always been such a joy in our family. As a baby he very rarely cried. In fact, when he was about two years old he fell and bumped his head and cried just a smidge. Sara Stephenson exclaimed, "That is the first time I have ever heard him cry." Zach always works hard at everything he does and is highly successful He never brags about himself - ever. You will never hear about his accomplishments from him as he is very modest. Zach is quite the gentleman, even to his sisters, which is very rare among siblings I have been told.


One of Zach's favorite photos! Soon he will be testing for his black belt.


Last night was the induction to the National Honor Society.


Once again, Zach's modest self - see there are lots of kids here joining NHS, it is no big deal.

Big Mystery Solved!

On Friday, during the announcements at Pasco High School, Zach heard his name announced. He had no idea what it was all about but he figured he would just read the announcements online later (boo, hoo, they are no longer online), so he didn't worry about it too much. Later in the afternoon, before Zach and I got home from picking him up after eighth hour, the high school called but wanted to talk to only Zach or one of his parents. They didn't leave a message, nor a phone number to call back. I tried calling the high school, but they were already closed up for the week-end. Zach went online to see if he could find the announcements, that's how we know they are no longer there. We figured we would figure it all out later. Courtney Moon asked Zach what the announcement was all about but we didn't know. The next morning when Zach was looking on Facebook, one of the kids from school congratulated him on winning the Masonic Achievement Award and was sorry he was missed at the recognition Friday night. I felt bad that we had missed it, but without any information, it is sure hard to go. So I thought I would recognize Zach online.



This award is for then entire Tri-Cities and is for only ten students, five girls and five boys. The awards are based on character, leadership, participation and service, perseverance and resourcefulness, and academic achievements. So kudos to Zach and all of the hard work he does with school, scouts, Duty to God, paper route, taekwondo, Order of the Arrow and Key Club. We are "well-pleased" with Zach. Good job!

Pi Day

Zach has proclaimed our family as the ultimate Nerd Family. We talked about square root day on 03/03/09 and today we celebrated 3/14 or pi day by having pie. We ate two kinds of pie at dinner time. One was our main course which was taco pie.

Then for dessert we had fudge sundae pie.

No More Excuses!

I use to have so many excuses for not adding to my blog. First - it took quite a few weeks before we had phone or internet or satellite service. It seems that along with the post office and the school district and UPS, there is no such place as Jacobs Lane. Even now, we still aren't on Google Maps. We ordered the three previously listed services and the companies would assure us that someone would be out on a certain day. That day came and went. I had stayed home for nothing (unpacking boxes - so I guess it isn't exactly nothing). I waited a few more days and then went to our old house and called since we still didn't have phone service and thus hadn't disconnected the other phone yet, and the various companies said they couldn't find us. I once again gave specific directions as to our location and set up another date the following week. By now it is after Thanksgiving and we have been in our home for more than two weeks. Finally, after having the various technicians and installers call us for directions we finally got all set up. Then after a couple of weeks, our modem went bad and we had to send for another one. Of course, they said they will be sending it overnight, but since UPS couldn't find us, it took a week. Second - Christmas came upon us then and all the kids were here, including Erin and her boyfriend. It was a great time for all. Third - Tons of boxes to unpack and sort out and throw out, etc. Fourth - now I am out of excuses, so I guess I had better get back to keeping up this blog, so my kids can know what is going on with our life.

First Five

First Five......
The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have 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'll be done this year. (might be a little while)4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be poetry, shoes, bags, or a little invention of my own! I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!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 your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did 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!Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!