Happy birthday to me!

We celebrated my birthday with a yummy dinner. We had carne guisada chimichangas, tostadas and Spanish rice. Then topped it off with strawberry shortcake. I wanted something to go with fresh strawberries.

Jaren - Cowboy of the week

This past week at school, Jaren was the "Cowboy of the Week." They try do this around the kids' birthday and Jaren's was just before spring break. This is the poster we put together.

Progress, progress, progress

Matt has finished off all the drywall in the pantry and entertainment center and all the bullnose and corner bead. Saturday he spent the day doing the first coat of the mudding. I spent a few hours with the kids doing 14 batches of strawberry freezer jam, my year supply.

Sunday afternoon nap

Precious moments like Beauchene taking an afternoon nap with his dad can't go by without a picture being taken.

Glucose Tolerence Test at 28 weeks

This Monday morning was my glucose tolerance test. I took Angelique with me and and 2 drawers full of scrapbooking supplies. (I had to fast for 12 hours before drinking the glucose drink. They took my blood first to test what my sugar count was before I took the drink, I consumed the drink and then they tested my blood every hour for 3 hours after that.) From 8am to 12 noon, Angelique and I put together 30 pages of pictures. I was feeling OK for most of it and started getting a little hungry and shaky by the end. I took Angelique to JB's afterward to hand in her coupon for a free kids meal. I devoured a hamburger, but I was still feeling pretty shaky and funny-strange. My body is so not use to that much sugar(100g) in one sitting nor going that long without any food. Jileigh babysat the other kids. She made them scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast and then put on a movie for them. She did a great job of taking care of them while I was gone.

Unfortunate Event

"Pregnant women shouldn't play with sledge hammers" - Dr. David Grygla

OK. So, since Matt is so busy with the construction in our home, it has been up to 6-months-pregnant-me to put in the garden. The kids have been great to get down in the dirt to put in the seeds and plants. So After we put in 4 rows, I decided I wanted to put in a make-shift fence around it so that the dog couldn't get in there and dig up my plants. I put in 2 posts and just as I was finishing the 3 and final post, Jileigh tried to help by straighten up the post in the middle of me pounding on it. My finger got caught in the middle of the post and the handle of the sledge hammer. I came in the house and yelled at Matt for not taking care of the garden himself and then the emotions spilled over into tears. I iced my finger, ate some food, took some Tylenol, and rested for the next two hours. I was pretty much wiped out for the rest of the day. It is amazing the effect a traumatic event can do on the whole body, from nausea to fatigue.

Construction progress report

By Friday night, Matt put in the insulation and finished all of the drywall outside and inside of jileigh's room, closet, and the loft. Today he is hoping to finish the rest of the drywall on the pantry, laundry room, and the entertainment center. Last night he taught me how to put in screws in the drywall. He would cut the piece, stabilize it in the wall, and then I would put in the rest of the screws in that piece while he cut the next piece. That was our Friday night date!

Jileigh's haircut

Jileigh wanted me to cut her hair this week and take before and after pictures and post them on my blog. Puberty is starting to hit a little and it is gradually making her hair curlier, which I think is cute.

Safia - Too cute to not take a picture of her

Tonight after dinner, Safia was yelling, "Mommy, come here! I am taking a bath!" She went into the dog kennel and filled up a couple of holes that the dog had dug by the fence with water and was taking a mud bath. What a funny little turkey!

Construction progress report

Friday, Matt got the electrical done and Saturday, he and his father hung the high pieces of the sheet rock to enclose the loft. I feel much better about my kids being up there with it enclosed.

Then on Monday, Matt built the stairs to get up into the loft. Next he will build the railing for the stairs and put in the insulation so he can finish the drywall.

Jaren's 6th birthday

March 14th was Jaren's 6th birthday. We had his party at a nearby park with his cousins.

Jileigh made dinner

Last night I had a RS dinner to go to. Jileigh has been bugging me for a while to let her make dinner, so last night I let her. The is a recipe that she got from her friend who made this dish for her family. It turned out really good. They saved me a serving to have for lunch today. This is actually the first time she has made a dinner all by herself from start to finish. Now that I know that she is capable of the task, I have to let her do it more often!

Talon's pinewood derby

Tonight was Talon's pinewood derby race. He lost the first one, won the next two, then lost again and was eliminated. His car did pretty good.

Progress report on our construction

Well, Matt is about done with the framing and is ready to start on the electrical, that's the easy part for him. He also opened up the laundry room. I have finally convinced him that I would like for him to plumb for a second washer and dryer and also for a utility sink. There will still be plenty of room for shelves and a counter.

Friday afternoon fun!

This afternoon, I ran a small errand and stopped by Candy's house for just a minute. Sariah asked me if she could come to my house. All her brothers we leaving to play with friends, so I brought her home with me to play with the kids for about an hour. Jileigh and Angelique set up a "table" with play food in the canoe and they all had a tea party in there. It was cute, so I took a picture of it. Sariah ended up wetting her pants so I put her in the tub to clean up. Beau wanted to get in too, so they had their first cousin bath together. Sorry, I don't take bath pictures anymore. Matt is gone now to a scout overnight campout. Jileigh is making corn dogs for dinner and I just enjoyed a large spinach salad.

Feb 23 to present - Construction on the front room

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Construction has begun! Matt tore down the wall between our front room and living room and is building a built-in entertainment center and a pantry. Then he divided the front room and is putting in a bedroom. It will be for Jileigh for now until baby #7 is older and will go into the present girls room and Angelique will go in with Jileigh. Then he is also extending the laundry out and building a loft above it. After all that is finished, he will turn the present pantry which is in Jileigh's new room into a bathroom. So in the end we will have 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and still have a front room.

Feb 19 - Mar 6 Jileigh's Science Fair Project

Jileigh decided for her science fair project that she would try different liquids to water some cabbage plants. She used Hawaiian punch, pineapple juice, tomato juice, and water. She and I both predicted that the juices and punch would kill off the plants, but they didn't. In fact, the one fed the juices look better than the ones that received just water. She had to hand in her pictures today in her science class.

Feb 20- 21 - Yard cleaning

I have spent the last month nesting. I was able to get all the bedrooms cleaned along with the rest of the house and maintain it for about 4 weeks and have loved it. So this weekend I took all the kids outside and cleaned up the front yard on Friday. Then on Saturday we filled in pot hole on our driveway. The kids insisted on leave a little pond and wouldn't help unless I agreed. So we compromised. Then we went into the backyard and stacked the wood and stacked the weeds and stacked the bark from cutting wood. It just looked a lot better that it was. Then Matt took the kids to Wendy's to get burgers and frosty's. I usually don't let them get the frosty's, but they worked really hard that weekend.

Beauchene was really cute how he had to insist on helping with every chore. He picked up rocks and pushed the wagon.

The kids made a swing and Talon was pushing Beau in it and having fun.

Feb 11 - Blue and Gold Banquet

Feb 2 was Talon's Blue and Gold Banquet. The theme was America so Matt and Talon put together a flag cake. They had a nice dinner with sloppy joes, green salad and potato salad.

They had some balloons there and one of the kids tied a balloon to Beau's button hole. It was cute.