Early Merry Christmas

Here is some pictures of our early Christmas! The kids were very excited. I don't know how I am going to get exctited about Thanksgiving #2 and Christmas #2 this year. We did it all in two days.

Maggie's Birthday!

News Flash....Maggie Rohal is now 7 years old! She was very excited about turning 7 this year. She is the youngest kid in her class, but seems to be holding her own. In Ohio you aren't allowed to start school unless you are 5 years old. She started when she was 4 and then turned 5 in Kindergarten. She is doing well with school and having fun at home. She is learning a lot in Primary at church, she is working on learning the articles of faith. We are proud of her.

Blowing Bubbles

I bet you thought you would see lovely pictures of the children frolicing in the backyard blowing bubbles right? Well sorry...but I had to tell this little story instead...

First let me begin by saying that my mother is coming...and I can't have her see the house in its glory...so therefore I think I have done laundry for about 3 days straight now. I hate to admit that but none the less it is true. The laundry detergent is in my way when I am trying to fold 10 million pounds of clothes on a little itty bitty table. So I moved it to over by the sink. Then I was rinsing it out because soap always gets stuck in the bottom of the cup. Well after doing this and repeating (I don't know) 10 or so loads a day...I forgot to move the cup...

We went to bed. Steve woke up. It was dark. He didn't have his glasses on. You know what happened...

He got a drink! A big ol' drink of soapy water. I cannot be sure what happened next...but I heard lots of mumbling and a distinct...WHERE IS THE WATER CUP! He actually didn't react too badly...I don't think he was pleased with my laundry efforts at that point. Although I am sure he was happy he had clean clothes this morning!

By the way...take a look at that mirror in the picture...Mom is coming today...and yes the laundry is almost done...but as you can see I still have some cleaning to do...YUCK!

Have a great day!

Jacob is 12!!!!

Can you all believe that my little Jacob is 12 !? I can't!

I Love Pretending!

Today is one of the first Saturdays in a long long time when we don't have to go anywhere or do anything! Yippee! That give the kids time to play and just hang out and use their imagination. Here is what I woke up to this morning...it has been edited a bit because I can't write that fast...but you'll get the idea!

Curtis: "You know I can change into a freeze dude!"

Maggie: "OK You can get frozen on the ship"

C: Maggie - I'm on Pluto and I got freezed!"

M: I have hot powers so if you ever get frozen I can help you"

C: Maggie just to tell you...I have one teensy bit of fire and one big chunk of ice... Maggie want to switch powers?"

M: No

C: I could be 1/2 fire and 1/2 ice...This hand fire and this hand ice...

M: OK

C: If I have enough fire power I could melt this like the sun

M: (no response)

C: Uh oh we are crashing into Mars!!!! Fire up the booster! That part is a giant missle!

M: Even though you are an alien you seem pretty nice...

Douglas: I'm frozen..First species known to mankind

M: Do you need a hot pack?

M: I can turn my whole body on fire?

D: I Don't want to see that!

C: A little help here...BAd guys are coming!

M: You will have to change your power if you can't control it!!!

D: I can help you with your ship.

C: I changed you to ice...Maggie quick start a fire...

C: ARF ARF ARF---Oh I forgot I was a puppy ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF....

M: I found a little alien...He's frozen... Quick get a hot pack...He'll be alright.

C: ARF



I love lazy days...

THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!

Grandma sent Halloween cards and cold hard cash! Yeah Grandma!
Ninja showing me his moves!

Maggie the cow girl!

Dougie the Mad scientist and his experiment Igor AKA Jacob

Me as a stressed out Mother! I know...not much of a stretch! All the women came up to me at the party and said..."You look how I feel!" I guess that was a compliment? Things you can't see in the picture...I carried Maggie's baby doll that cries and I had a dryer sheet hanging out of my shirt and two different shoes! Sad thing is I have left the house with all these things in reality at one time or another...thank goodness not all at once.

Basement Closet

Back Side of Closet...where we will paint eventually
Inside of the closet...coats hung and shoes organized finally. Hopefully this will cut down on "I can't find my shoes" syndrome which has recently struck our home in the last few weeks.

Bedroom's After

Maggie's Room Done!


Dougie and Curt's Floor ! Yahoo!

Jacob's Room Better than Before!


Mom's New Laundry Pile because of all the clean up in the rooms! GRRRREAT! Guess you know what I will be doing tomorrow!

Bedroom's Before

Maggie's Mess

Douglas and Curtis Mess

Jacob's Mess

More Basement Work

Food Storage Area

Food Storage area other side of room

General Junk shelves

72 Hour kits lined up and ready! Yeah!

More Junk just in nicer containers :) Next we are working on a closet for the basement. That is the fun this evening...oh yeah after we move the freezer...have to do that before we build the closet or we won't be able to move the freezer.

More Project Pictures

Here are some "after" Pictures. Looks much better. The last picture is the pump that takes all the basement water that comes through and gets it out of there. Now our next project is to make a family room down there...also food storage area...bathroom and possible closet and desk area...oh yeah the challange is...all for free :) Cause we be broke after this!

Basement Project Pictures

The process of waterproofing the basement. What a mess! Very loud too...lots of jack hammering around the foundation walls for a drain...They also dug up the outside and waterproofed the walls.

Spirit Week

This week is spirit week at Southeast. Mon was crazy sock day, Tues. Hat Day, WEd. Sports Day, Thurs. Backwards day and finally Fri. wear maroon and gold day.

Tomorrow Steve and I are going on a temple trip to Columbus. It will be the first time we have been to the temple since we have been here. I am excited about going but we are leaving at 5:15 am. Not too thrilled with that...as this week has been really hard for me to get sleep and Sat is usually the only day I have to sleep a little longer than 6 am. At least we are taking a bus and I can hopefully sleep some on the way there...yeah in a dress and with my hair done. I am sure I will be soooo comfy. We are staying for two sessions and we haven't done that before. We usually only stay for one session. I was really crossing my fingers when they were announcing more temples to be built. I was hoping for a temple in Kirtland! That would only be a half an hour away. I guess I will have to wait. Columbus is about 2 1/2 hours like Palmyra temple was...It makes for an all day trip and it makes it impossible to go on a weekday when the kids are in school to leave and be back in time. It would be sooo great to get the kids on the bus...go to the temple and be back before they got home from school. What a great escape that would be for me! I know I know...this post is all about ME ME ME! Ok I will try to get over it today!

Love ya

Good Morning!

I really don't have much to write about today or this week. It seems like I am just muddling through! I guess some excitement on Sat. Douglas won his first soccer game and Jacob also won his football game! It was so nice not to have someone pouting all afternoon!

Sunday was nice. General Conference...which I usually dread! Sorry just being honest. Not because of what general conference is or what I learn there...Its because I have little children! Hard to pay attention and keep everyone quiet. This year was SO NICE! Everyone is a bit older...Curtis fell asleep but before that he was being very good. No one crawled on my lap and no one was fighting it was AMAZING. I acutally heard all the talks! What A Concept! To be honest...I got so figety...I volunteered to take a fussy baby and walk in the back. Maybe it wasn't the kids after all? :)

Yesterday...I have no idea what I accomplished...NOTHING I guess would be the answer. Just some groceries. Today I am trying to decide between doing more grape juice, the laundry, or forgetting everything else and try to paint the bathroom which has been particularly driving me CRAZY this last few months.

I'll let you know what I decide...I am out of ice cream so the couch today is probably not an option!

Love ya!

Thrift Store Jackpot!

We did very well at the thrift store yesterday. We really didn't spend hardly any money on "back to school" clothes this year. Jacob needed some new stuff but everyone else was ok until cooler weather. We got out Maggie's warm clothes and she has grown out of everything. Curtis is also wearing size 7 pants that are about 4 inches too long but fit him in the waist. He is THICK! Dougie has been in the same size for a long time...although his pants are getting too short...

We went to the goodwill store and did very well. ( I think) Curtis got 3 shirts and 1 pair of pants. Boys clothes seem harder to find... We bought Doug this shirt in the picture not because he really needed another shirt but because we knew he would love it! He did. It was $2. Maggie made out as always...5 sweaters, 1 dress, 1 skirt, and 1 pair of jeans. I also found a jumper dress for $5 from Blair. Looks brand new. Grand total spent $30.

I was very excited! We still have to get new sneakers for Jacob and Curtis...but they want alot for shoes...even at the walmart and payless. I think the cheapest pair for Curt were $15 and the cheapest pair for Jacob were $25. So we will just keep looking. It isn't urgent yet. :)

Just Hanging out Today...

Steve has been playing with the dehydrator...having fun drying herbs and fruit. I used my craftiness (Ha Ha) to put the corn on the door. Last but not least...my buffet...children and husbands have some sort of issue with clear horizontal surfaces...as soon as it is cleaned off everyone puts stuff back on top. Now I am sure they haven't set anything there in a while...why do I know? Because when you put something on it before something else fell off. I know it isn't that bad and yes I did clear it off again this morning...

First Day All Alone...

Look what I did today. Yes It is lame but I feel better. I found the top of the buffett and the top of the desk! I also stenciled Families are Forever in the dining room. I have been hemming and hawing about it for months....so I just did it! Who cares what other people think...I am sure I will get some "comments" from family...who by the way have to live with me FOREVER! Haa Haa! So who has the last laugh anyway!

Hoppy Toad Has Grown!

Remember the little hoppy toad from a few post ago...I wonder if this is him...grown up? He was sitting on the walk way when I took the dog out. Jacob went to get the camera and take the dog into the house...he got the camera...and the dog not wanting to miss anything and seeing the opportunity to run...snuck out of the open door. So then we spent 20 min or so chasing a black dog in the dark. Let's just say it wasn't very fun! The dog is really beginning to scare me. She loves to run and she is very very fast. Also she won't come and won't listen. She will do as she is told if she knows you have control over her but if she realizes she is "free" forget it! I am afraid she is going to get hit by a car or just run so far away so fast we won't be able to find her. Gotta find a solution soon.

More Grape Juice...

Sorry somehow pictures of pears got in there too. Here is the finished product...so far we have gone about 1/4 to 1/2 way through the grapes...we have 47 quarts done. So hopefully we can survive the winter eating green beans, berries, salsa and grape juice. :) I guess you gotta start somewhere! There is something very satisfying having all your jars lined up on the shelf.

How much does our 100% organic natural grape juice cost?

Grapes...free (thanks Dad Rohal)

10 cents of sugar per quart

17 cents a lid

Jars...free

Grand total 27 cents per quart...

A search of our local grocery store price for "100%" grape juice from concentrate...$4.30 for 64 oz.

Therefore...we save...$3.76 for every 2 quarts of our 100% organic natural not from concentrate homemade yummy grape juice.

Factors not considered...electric, capital outlay for grape juice manufacturing equipment $65, and labor of two very unskilled workers, transportation costs include... bringing the jars up from the basement and the grapes in from the backyard.