Tuesday, January 21, 2014

My Little Helpers

Last week, I HAD to clean the house.  It is nice to have a clean house.  Working full-time, I don't have a lot of time to do the things I need to do anymore.  I NEED a clean house.  I have offered my children money and other rewards if they would do their chores.  They are not a big fan of doing chores.  I wasn't a big fan of doing chores at that age either.

I decided to do the work myself.  I wanted to have a clean house at some point during the week.  That was the day.  I cleaned the family room to begin with.  When everything was picked up, it was time to vacuum.  I pulled the vacuum out and started vacuuming like crazy!  LIKE CRAZY being the keywords.  VACUUM FORWARD, VACUUM BACK... the thing just wouldn't suck anything up.  VACUUM more.  Still nothing... yes, it was on and it was running.  It just wouldn't SUCK!  Most often, you want things that don't suck.  Not the case with the vacuum, when you are trying to vacuum, you want the thing to suck.

I went and found my husband's toolbox.  People get a kick out of the toolbox.  It is absolutely not the average toolbox.  It works though, for the things my husband knows how to do.  It is a little igloo cooler, I think it would hold, maybe a six-pack of soda pop.  Well, in our case, it holds my husband's tools. 

I got out the Philip's head screwdriver.  I unscrewed the bottom of the vacuum.  I unscrewed it so I could get to the part of the hose where it sucks things up.  I needed to unclog the thing.  With a guinea pig, dog, four children, and myself who have hair, the thing can get clogged sometimes.  Then it just won't suck.  My toddler stood beside me, squatted beside me, and knelt beside me the whole time.  She was my supervisor.  When it came time to start getting the hair, and other things, out of the hose, she helped.  I had her hold the bag that I was putting the stuff in.

My 6 year-old came down around the time I had to start screwing everything back together.  He wanted to help.  Then my toddler also wanted to help.  I figured that I would let them do what they could.  I would just stand back and take some pictures of my little helpers hard at work! 

My 6 year-old was getting ready to take the reigns from me.  He is getting the vacuum all set to get some more screws put back in.  My toddler is standing by, being the supervisor.  She has a few tools, in case she needs to help out!


He is hard at work in the following photo.  He has the screw where it belongs and is screwing it in really tight so the bottom thing (for lack of knowing what it is called) will not fall off.  My toddler seems to be getting tired of watching him, I think she is ready to use some of her tools!

 My toddler couldn't stand just watching anymore.  She had to put her tools to use.  She had watched long enough and thought she could help out.  She knelt right down and went to work.  I think her face is her putting all her effort into turning a screw with needle nose pliers. 


In no time flat, the vacuum was up and working.  It was able to suck again.  I am thankful for my little helpers that came along, in the neck of time, to help me get the vacuum put together so I could continue my work. It was wonderful to leave for work that day and know the house was clean.  If the house would only stay clean, it would be great!


Monday, January 6, 2014

Christmas Eve Tradition

As I was growing up, it became a tradition, on Christmas Eve, to go to a movie, have pizza, look at Christmas lights and then open gifts.  It was also a tradition to eat doughnuts and drink orange juice.

This year on Christmas Eve, we went and watched Despicable Me 2 on the Ogden Cine Pointe 6, for $3/person.  We then met my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and their son for the pizza part of it.  We went to the Pizza Pie Cafe.  I love that place.  I discovered that they have gluten free pizza, pasta and sauce.  Most of the salad bar is gluten free too.  I got to order my own pizza for $2 extra and have all the pasta and salad too.  I got to bring the pizza home with me.  I think it was well worth the $2.

It was nice to share this time w/ my in-laws.  We did Christmas Eve pizza last year too.  The difference was, they were still married then.  I was proud at how civil they are too each other now.  I don't know that I could do that anymore.  They even rode to the pizza shop together. 

I came home and went to sleep after the pizza.  I had to work a 12 hour shift the night before, so I was gone until almost 2 am.  I wrapped gifts after I woke up from the nap.  We then went and looked at the Christmas lights. 


This picture was taken in front of a dragonfly.  Further back, there is a lit up candle and what appears to be a green deer, at least from the photo.  We wanted the dragonfly in the photo.  My husband was the photographer for the photos, so he is not in them.  I am going to have to get a look at my son's coat to see what the reflection is from!  My toddler seldom has matching socks.  This is one of those times they don't match :)  I think when you are that age, you take them off and throw them wherever seems fit at the moment!



These are my four wonderful children.  They are posing in front of the tyrannosaurus rex.  We have always been fans of dinosaurs.  We couldn't pass up this photo opportunity!  It looks like pegasus is driving a car in the background, but they are actually two separate objects, several feet apart.


This photo is of my three oldest children in front of an angel.  My toddler and I were still trying to catch up with them at this point.  The sidewalks were ice most of the way, so I was holding her hand while she walked.  I didn't want to carry her because I was afraid I would fall and hurt her if she was in my arms.  I figured it would be safer if we both had our feet on the ground.  She slipped several times, but I had her hand, so she didn't fall and get hurt.  

This park is amazing how they light it up.  It would have been about an hour wait to drive through, so we found a place to park and walked in.  That is why my toddler and I were a ways back, but we got in and out in about 20 minutes.  Next year, if it is cold, we will have to remember our mittens.

We didn't have doughnuts and juice this year.  I have Celiac disease and no longer eat gluten.  I have not been officially diagnosed, but when I had the biopsy done to confirm pemphigoid gestationis it came back stating that the biopsy also showed a strong likelihood of Celiac disease.  My stomach has hurt off and on since I was in high school.  Not just hurt, but really gave me a great deal of pain.  I went through several procedures my senior year to find out what is wrong, and there were never any definitive answers.  Since I have cut gluten out of my diet, I feel so much better.  My stomach seldom hurts.  In the past several months, I was in constant pain, so I know that cutting the gluten has really changed things for me. 

We came home and opened the gifts.  The favorite gifts were an MP3 player for my older daughter, a remote control helicopter for oldest son, Pokemon DS game for my younger son (even though it was my oldest son's gift) and my toddler got a little ride-on, move w/ your feet, bike from my parents.  I got a blanket w/ family pictures on it from my parents, that I absolutely love, and Keith got a bunch of socks.  We also got a photo from right after our wedding on canvas paper from my parents which is also a favorite. 

I am so blessed to have the family that I have.  I am thankful for traditions and knowing that no matter where we are across the country, my siblings, my parents and my little family are all doing the same thing...seeing a movie, having pizza and looking at lights :) 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

This is Hazel

We got a puppy on Sept 14, 2013.  She is a beautiful little Shih-tzu/Mini Pinscher mix.  Her name is Hazel.  I never did a post introducing her, although she was introduced on Facebook.  She has become a wonderful part of our family.  We are thankful for our little dog.

My older daughter came up with her name.  Hazel is my running partner.  She can keep up with me and even goes faster when she wants to.  You wouldn't think she was a good runner with how small she is, but she sure can move.  She has a lot of energy.  I guess my husband got tired of my incessant whining for a puppy.  When my parents got one, I knew I needed one too.  The children love her, my husband loves her, and I love her.