Whats been going on...

Sorry guys about it being so long in between posts. I've been incredibly busy rearranging my life and my priorities. Lets go over what my schedule was like.... I was working at Walmart. It was supposed to only be part time 15 hours a week, however they were so short handed that I was working 40 hours a week. Then I am going to school part time in the evenings Mon-thru-Thurs from 6pm to 9pm to help get more loans to help our family live and to pay for Wills Tuition. This last year where all my refund goes to pay the balance owed on his tuition is so tough. We have 40$ every two weeks from my Work study job to help pay for gas to Lincoln and back on a daily basis (basically like driving from North Bountiful Utah to South Provo Utah) and gas in the van for taking the kids to school, and then trying to get cloths for the kids. I so wish that we had DI's here. They had better selections of kids clothing. Here I can't find hardly anything. But anyway, I am working at Creighton for two days a week for my student loan called Work Study. Plus trying to be a mom, and filling my calling as the YW 1st counselor, and all of that, I just had no time to sleep. I would get maybe 5 hours. I was so exhausted, and things just weren't working out. So I decided to quit Walmart not knowing how or when I would get another job to help pay for our utilities and clothing and everything that are the basic of basic needs. I told myself that I was going to focus strictly on my kids and family, and whatever happened happened. Well one of the gals in my branch, who I have her daughter in my YW class, fired her babysitter on Friday, and called me to see if I was willing to babysit for pay. OF COURSE!! She has the sweetest kids, they are so cute, and they are my kids' age. She is a home health nurse, and works overnight, so I will be watching the three kids from 6:30 pm to 8am and then take her 10 year old to school as I drop of my kids to school as well. It works out perfectly. I can be home and be a mom, and it takes not much more effort on my part to watch them sleep. SO I am so blessed and thankful for this blessing. So now I have more time to spend with my kids. They are WAY excited to have their friends from church be on permanent sleepover status, and the older girls will move upstairs with my friends oldest daughter, and the two little ones who are 4 and 5 will be downstairs with Isaac and us...so they don't fall down the stairs. I am really glad that this Sister thought about me to watch her kids. She is so very thankful for me helping her out and tells me I am an answer to her prayers, when in fact SHE is the blessing in disguise to our family. I wont get rich doing this, but it will be enuf to help with gas in the cars to get the kids to school and get Will to his rotations, but we will still end up relying on the Lord for assistance with our utilities and such once in a while. So now, I am not as busy, but my priority are the kids ...and their friends...and I can act more like a mother that I want to be. SO that's how we have been doing.

As a side note...if you know of anyone who has some gently used Twin Size blankets that they are willing to part with and send to me, I would be most grateful. We have a few spares, but not many. I have some other feelers out there for some twin beds...right now they are using air mattresses, but that should only be temporary. So if you know of anyone or anything willing to help, I would be most grateful.

Well thanks for all your love and thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Shots, Apples and Raspberries...Oh My!!

Well, we were naughty but nice parents this last Friday. Will had gotten his Flu shot for free at Creighton last Wed. and then I got my Flu shot on Thursday. Well all three kids got their Flu shots on Friday morning. We decided that by the time we were all done fussing with them, and settling them down from the shot, it wouldn't be worth putting them back in classes, so we kept them out for the rest of the day to play hooky. SO we decided it was a great time to make our annual trek to the Apple Orchard. So we did. The kids had tons of fun, and enjoyed eating their Carmel apples, and raspberries. We had picked 3lbs of raspberries, but I think the kids ate about a pound in the field. They totally enjoyed themselves. We also picked 15lbs of apples. We got gala apples and melrose apples. Both very sweet apples and great for applesauce and cooking. Also eating fresh. I will be making applesauce here soon with our haul of apples. I will also be making quite a few of my famous apple tarts. I have eight requests already lined up. Hopefully next fruit season I will be back in Utah picking peaches as well as apples, and pears, and then making my famous tart with those fruits as well. With our raspberries, I made 5 pints of raspberry sauce. No sugar added, so we can pour it over our ice cream or waffles or cheesecake desserts. It is really good. In fact the kids had some chocolate cookies that they dipped in the remaining little bit of raspberry sauce, and they really loved it. So we will definitely be doing that again. Enjoy our pics. We all had a great time.

'Lil Farmers' Market

I can see that the rest of you are as stumped as I am about what to do with so many pumpkins. Not to be discouraged, I came-up with a plan that combined 3 goals: 1) getting-rid of at least some of these pumpkins, 2) Making a few dollars, and 3) Giving the kids something constructive to do. Below is a picture of the result.

Also in the lower part of the picture are 2 magnetic toys that I (finally!) got-around to making for the kids...yeah,...right...the kids... Anyway, here is a close-up of 2 toys that I made using recycled materials around the house. The one on the left has a dowel (okay so I bought one thing) that I bought holding 2 magnets with the same pole facing each other. In this way, the magnets "levitate" and allow small hands to explore the very real force involved. On the right, I used an ordinary washer and an extra neodymium magnet. The silver magnet closest to the washer is responsible for the attraction of the washer. It pulls about 35lbs on a piece of iron or steel; so I've been looking for a "safe" way to use it without running the risk of pinching small (or not-so-small) fingers. The "strings" holding the washer back are actually 3 of 100 of those cheap ball-chain connectors that you see on keychains all the time. I bought a bag of 100 of them from American Science & Surplus for $1.45 a couple of weeks ago (Okay, okay, so I bought two things!). They are already proving even more handy than I had hoped.