Dinner Disaster!

"Mom, did you put plastic in our soup?" asked Bailey last night. I had to answer yes. Let me back up. I bought a bag of fresh broccoli at Costco--such a great deal like 3 dollars for 3 lbs. But let me tell you, when you have had steamed broccoli for the fifth night in a row, you start to rethink how great that deal was. I know, I thought to myself, I will make cream of broccoli soup. It will be so nutritious and use up a lot of the bag. Pat myself on the back. I even got online and found a promising recipe that said, "gourmet cream of broccoli soup." Gourmet... bonus points for me! Anyways to make a long story short--I didn't know how to make vegetables sweat, so I skipped that step. After they cooked for awhile, you where supposed to put them in the blender and blend everything up. I did this. However, on the lid of our blender is a hard plastic center piece that is removable. This piece somehow sucked down into the blender! I turned it off immediately after I realized what had happened. Not before the bottom part of this had been chopped up into small bits. I didn't notice this crucial little fact and went about my business preparing dinner. I made home made rolls too (since I was sorta of on a Martha Stewart kick). Anyways, we all sit down and immediately the kids refuse to eat it. Levi says, "look its good" and demonstrates by taking a big bite. Next thing out of his mouth..."what is the hard stuff in the soup?" I respond (a little confused) "Well I guess it could be a patato or onion but I cooked them for like 20 minutes." He responds by saying..."NOooo...this seems more like a bone." Then I realize what has happened. I take a bite--sure enough--a delicious light blend of broccoli,onion, patatoe,cream and glass-like shards of hard plastic. We had delightful dinner of rolls! I suppose I should have felt bad about it (and Levi says I will if any of those plastic shards go through my intestinal track) but I kept giggling to myself as I did the dishes! So tonight for dinner....frozen pizza...minus my secret ingredient...hard plastic!

Not to air my dirty laundry but...

So as anyone who reads my post knows, I do laundry on Mondays...all day long...The reason why I stick to this schedule rigidly is because I own only 8 pairs of garment tops (You do the math). Well, everything was going along swimmingly yesterday. I was on load number 4 when I spontaneously decided to throw in my throw pillows from the downstairs couch--as they had been used as a giant napkin--into the wash. When I went to get my laundry out the pillows had torn open. Grrrr. Throw out throw pillows. Then, as I was pulling out my laundry I noticed it was very wet and then there was about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom. Weird. Continue on to load number 5. Unfortunately, at the end of that cycle, I opened the lid to find that it hadn't drained at all! Now some people would be excited at the excuse to get a new washing machine...I don't fall into that category. Despite the fact that it is the workhorse of the house, I have no desire to spend my hard earned money on something like that. I called Levi and told him I thought the washing machine was broken. Then I really began to think about the ramifications of a broken washing machine and having absolutely no place close by where I could get a new one. Laundry mat for a week. uugghhh. Doing laundry at a friends house, equally inconvenient. Wearing the same dirty pair of underwear for a week. Hmmmm....I might not smell too good, nor would our house having two weeks worth of dirty laundry accumulated in it. Levi told me he would look at it when he got home. I hung up and said a silent little prayer that my washer would be fixed so that I could wear clean underwear tomorrow. Well, after unloading the clothes and then hand dipping out all the water, it was ready to be looked at. (Just as a side note, prepare yourself if you ever move an appliance for grossness underneath it). Levi took the machine apart and found that the pump was clogged with pillow fluff. He said, "you owe me for 2 hours of my life spent fixing that darn thing" I thought to myself, "well how many hours of my life have I spent using that darn thing..." Then he said, never ever wash a throw pillow again. I also thought to myself, "yeah, because it was really fun for me to wring out a load of soaking wet laundry and bail out 50 gallons of water!" Sorry still bitter. I really am glad he was able to fix it (for the above mentioned reasons). This story has sort of a happy ending. Well, I did not get my white load done, as it was about 9:30 when Levi finished with his repair job. This morning I was looking through my drawer hoping against hope to find a clean top and I did! It was a cotton one I had bought shortly after we got married. It was pit stained and had seen me through two pregnancies...but hey it was clean!

The meaning of love...

What does love mean?

I wub you!--Kessie-doodle age 2

It means you give someone kisses and hugs!--Bailey age 5

It means someone is special to you. Like if I was in love with a girl she would be my girlfriend! --Bridger age 6


Sending out our love to everyone! (Since I wasn't on the ball enough to get valentines sent out!)

Sick kids and the school nurse...

Our family has been fighting head colds the last couple weeks (except Kes who has had a cold for a month--and I finally took her in and she had and ear infection and bronchitis--and I thought she was just cranky because the binky was gone). Anyways, Bridger stayed home from school on Wednesday because he wasn't feeling well. This lasted till about 11--when he forgot he was "sick" and started running around playing with Bailey. I do have a rule that if he stays home sick--he has to lay down and take a nap after lunch. He did comply with this. But thirty minutes later he was downstairs asking if he could play computer games. Oh bless his heart! Anyways, I sent him to school the next day and not even a half hour after school started I got a call from the nurse (I think she must have our number on speed dial). Bridger is complaining of a sore throat and we have had strep going around. I told her, I looked at his throat he is fine. I am sure she thought I was a little calloused. But you see Bridger is never one to pass on any opportunity to come home sick--that combined with the fact that he has the pain tolerance of a flea--means he is in the nurses office a lot. For example, Bridger was at school four days this week...I got three calls from the nurse's office. This morning (because Valentines day party is today) he bounced out of bed with (its a miracle) no sore throat! However, before 9 I got a call saying, "this is the nurse, Bridger got hit in the head with a ball, and has a bit of a goose egg and headache." My reply, "he is fine. Give him a tylenol and send him back to class." Does this make me a bad mother? Maybe. I think I can live with it.

Hunting season is over...and the deer know it!

The deer are taking over the yard again. Bridger wanted me to take a picture. This is in our front yard!

Science fair...fun???

Bridger did the science fair again this year. After doing it last year I swore I would never let him do it again. This year was a repeat. Here is why I hate science fair. 1. After the "experiment" part is over, it is like pulling teeth to get him to do the rest. It took us five hours to get his board done. 2. I have to write an abstract for the dang thing. Do you know how long it would take Bridger to type a 250 word paper? I'm talking days....so I end up doing it via dictation. So his paper sounded something like this..."Hypothesis: Well, at first I thought that the rag would get wet in the water, but then I thought more about it and decided it wouldn't." Very scientific! 3. When we arrive at school and put up his project which has clearly been done by a six year old I look around at some of the other projects which have clearly been done by their parents--so that is just my little pet peeve.
Now the for the reason why I love it (refer to the above picture). How can you say no to anything that makes a kid that happy? Its a good thing it only comes around once a year though...its like childbirth...I have to forget how painful it was last time so that I am willing to do it again.

The binkie has got to go! Day 2 without the plug! Ugghh!

Kes turned two in December. She still has a Binky (which I am totally fine with). The only resolution I made when she turned two was that I wouldn't buy any more binkies. I have stuck with my resolve. However, a few days ago, we lost every single binky Kes owns. Panic! Desperate searching! Thinking about praying about it. Decide, no. It is just going to happen again. Be strong, I tell my self--you can do it. I don't go to the store. I discovered that Kes actually doesn't need a binkie to go to sleep. It was after the nap that she needs it! Now most kids wake up cheerful and ready to go play again. Not so with Kes. She always wakes up grumpy! Not just in the morning but also after nap. Now what she used to do was sit on my lap with a binky for about twenty minutes and then she was ready to face the day again. Now she just wakes up and screams and has one temper tantrum after another because I am not producing a binky for her. So now we are on day two with out a binkie. Will my resolve crumble under the pressure of unrelenting tears? I don't think so. I will be strong. I will move on. I will purchase....earplugs!

Dresses on a Wednesday?

Kes is really into wearing dresses! She picks one out every day to wear. I am loving it as Bailey is such a tom boy (she hates wearing dresses--especially if they are frilly). But there was this one day when they were both wearing dresses in the middle of the week--so I decided I better capture it for posterity! But before I could get the camera out, Bailey put one of Bridger's ties on. I asked her why she did it and she replied because she was a manager! I don't know where she got that one! I also threw in a picture of Bridger just for fun.

A tip about locked doors....

I watch a little boy named Wally. His is 2 and a half. Kes loves to play with him! Yesterday they got into a little adventure together! Now all of our upstairs doors lock but they are very easy to unlock. The downstairs doors are older and a very different story. Yesterday, Wally and Kes were downstairs watching Thomas (which they are usually glued to) I was upstairs helping Bridger with his valentines--he is making homemade ones this year--teacher mandated-I would never do that by my own choice...I'm way to lazy! Anyways, my mom calls and I'm talking to her. Things are going along swimmingly. Then I run downstairs to check on Kes and Wally. They have totally abandoned their posts on the couch and gone into our spare bedroom/office locking the door behind them. Kes is knocking on the door saying, "momma, let me out!" Wally had locked the door (I know it was him because I've seen him do it upstairs) and then couldn't figure out how to unlock the cursed thing. He was happy as a lamb playing and would only come over and jiggle the door knob when I said, "wally, come unlock the door!" Kes on the other had realized the nature of the situation and dissolved into hysterical crying. I am desperately trying to find something small enough with a flat end to fit into the hole and be able to turn it. The only thing I can find that will even fit into the lock is a nail and it is pointed on the end. I am at this point feeling slightly like how Kes feels. Fortuitously, my neighbor came over for something. She said, oh yeah the same thing happened to me when my daughter was two. Just take off the door knob. Light goes on in the head! Thank you! I can't believe I didn't think of that myself! The door knob came off very easily (just had to remove two screws) and they where free five minutes later. Kes rushed into my arms (never desiring to be put down again). Wally on the other hand, didn't even come out of the room--that is how serious he thought the situation was. Something tells me he has locked himself in rooms before. So there is my piece of advice. If your kid is locked in think door knob not lock!

Update on the car theft...

So here is the rest of the story. I guess after the called and reported the car stolen, a cop down in Ashland (a town on the reservation about 50 miles from here)found it about 10 minutes later. Apparently, she had taken it to go visit some relatives. So the car and the lady's wallet (which apparently also was taken) was returned with out any damage. The woman was taken to the Colstrip jail (that is right we have two tiny jail cells--I know because Bridger and I took a "fieldtrip" to it last year with all the other kindergartners. Apparently, her family was very happy to find out that she had stolen a car because it meant she would qualify to go to a drug treatment facility. A few weeks ago, a TV was stolen from our library. Everyone is wondering if she was behind that too. Who knows. But hey, I live in Colstrip population 2500. Two hours from the nearest city. I'll take any excitement I can get!