And it made us rethink moose tracks ice cream

A few weeks ago we were all downstairs watching TV when our neighbor calls and asks, "Do you know you have a moose in your yard?"

Seriously!?

We ran upstairs and opened the back door and the first thing Ryan said was that he could smell it. Must be all that experience with the wildlife in Alaska because I didn't smell anything. But the moose was not out back so we ran to the front door and there he was eating off of our maple tree in the front yard. He was nibbling the bottom branches which are about at the top of my head (I'm 5'7"), and of course his head and antlers and everything were above that. He was huge!

I ran to get the camera, but he had moved away in the 20 seconds it took me to get it and turn it on. By the time I got back he was across our driveway at our neighbors house. The only reason we got any picture at all was because he activated their motion sensor lights. I know it's a crappy picture, but you can vaguely see it is a moose-ish sort of blob.

The real proof was the next morning when we found the hoof prints in the snow and the moose poop under the tree. Didn't think you'd want to see a picture of that though.

Science Fair

Caden is in first grade, and for their science grade this quarter they were required to participate in the schools Science Fair. The requirements were that they had to ask a question that they didn't know the answer to and have a comparison. They were specifically instructed on how to lay out their boards and were given a month to complete it.

Caden loves to read books - especially How Things Work type books and encyclopedias, so there are not a lot of first grade level questions that he doesn't already know the answer to. He and Dad decided on growing salt crystals; testing whether more grew with tap water or distilled water. Caden did a great job, and Dad also had a lot of fun. Mom got to help with putting the board together, but Caden did all the writing.

Of course the day of the Science Fair the poor kid was sick, but we took in his project so he got his credit and ribbon. It was a good way to introduce us to the world of science fairs since I had never participated in one before.

The 'Fest Continues...

Lincoln was sick Friday night into Saturday, and I got it Sunday night and all day Monday. Thankfully Lincoln's only lasted about 8 hours, although he still doesn't really have much of an appetite back. I was not so lucky.

My particular strain was worse in almost every way - I'll spare you the details. I will however say I'm feeling much, much better today, and am so very grateful. Hopefully we're done now, because Ryan will have escaped getting sick if we are. If he gets something it takes him forever to recover, and then the grades and everything else go into the toilet.

A very BIG THANK YOU to my mom who dropped everything and spent the day taking care of my kids and running them around, and running to the store, and doing my dishes, and playing with the kids, andandand. It was very nice to have time to actually rest, and to have someone take care of everything else so that I could take care of me. Thankyouthankyouthankyou MOM!

I promise to post something more exciting than puke in the next couple of days. Today I have to play catch-up.

It's Tax Season. Yay!

In the weeks leading up to actually getting our refund I usually like to spend it thinking of everything we could do with the money. Like, we could get a new computer since this one is seven years old and likes to freeze up and erase files. Or we could pay off a chunk of our debt. Or, or, or.... None of those things actually ends up happening though because we're students and it all goes towards bills and regular life in the end.

But this year is different.

Tax season is usually yay! because we don't have anything complicated to file (and I'm not the one doing it). But this year while there is still nothing complicated to file that seems to be the problem. Usually we end up with a very healthy refund, but it turns out if you don't make any money and therefore don't pay any taxes you don't get to take the child credits, and therefore don't get a refund.

Huh.

So much for having a baby last year. So, yay! we're done with our taxes, filed and accepted by the IRS last night, but in all our 10+ married years we've never gotten so little back.

Stupid IRS logic.

I could tell you that it's Providence, that somehow it's all part of The Master Plan, and some of you may see it that way. But it doesn't feel that way. It feels a lot like bending over and....

Happy Tax Season Everybody!

Last night I got together with my non-Mormon group and played Pinochle, which I know makes me sound like an old lady, but is really very fun. As we were playing along I made a comment about one of the regular members of the group being "so fetchin' in shape" and everybody at my table did a double take. I laughed and said it was my mormon swear word.

Hold the phone - you're mormon?

Now, it's not like I was hiding anything, but I wasn't waving my Title of Liberty around either. I know it's come up at one other game night, but I guess only the people at the one table knew. After that I just figured everyone knew. Apparently not.

So then, of course, we had the explain this, explain that conversation. Here are just a few of my favorites that I had never heard before:

Them: So, isn't it true that if a woman has seven children she is guaranteed to get into heaven?*
Me: Bwahhahahahaha! No! Hahahaha......ahhhhh.

Them: What about the planets. Isn't there one called Holof, or Koloft, or is it Zoloft?
Me: (giggling) Yeah, we're all on planet Zoloft and that's why we're so happy (we did establish that Zoloft is a mood enhancing prescription drug and is not actually a planet).

There were the standard ones about garments. In fact more than I had heard before, but the funniest one wanted to know if they came in spandex to suck you in, 'cause she could maybe get on board with that.

They were very careful to repeatedly make sure that I wasn't uncomfortable with all their questions, and several of them said that they had never been comfortable enough around a mormon to ask their questions before. I'd rather have them ask than wander around thinking they know something that is just. not. true.




*Okay, is it just me, or if that was the guarantee wouldn't everyone have seven kids and then need to be living on planet Zoloft as a result?

People, I have a Baby

She's cute, right? But let me tell you something. When you play with your blog settings and change it so that I can't see your whole post in my Google Reader, then I have to use TWO HANDS to click into your actual blog. You see, we have some kind of stupid protection program in place that doesn't allow pop-ups unless you press Ctrl+Alt while clicking on the link. It's stupid because it does this and yet I like this feature because it keeps all the nasty enhancement ads at bay.

But people. Come ON!

Most of the time when I get to check my Reader I am holding the cute little thing up above. But she's wiggly, and grabby, and I usually end up sitting here like I'm surfing, or snowboarding, (or perpendicular to the keyboard for all you technicallies out there). And my Ctrl+Alt hand is full of squirmy girl.

I hear what you're thinking, "so just put her down". And you're right. Except she's a Destructicon Extrodinaire. And this office is NOT Aile proof.

So please. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease. Just make it easy on me and let me read you in Reader. Or come over and Aile proof the office. Either way.

More pictures

Our poor girl all bundled up when the weather was so very, very cold.

Who doesn't love a naked baby?
Not quite sure about Santa...

Lincoln loved Santa.

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Caden's Santa pictures didn't turn out, so I didn't post one. But he too, loved Santa.

Snow pictures. Yeah, they're late.

This is our front yard. The pile on the right is all the snow that's been shoveled off the driveway, and the pile behind it and slightly to the left is Ryan's car.

Miss Aile, watching the boys play.
Digging the snow cave. Lincoln wouldn't come out. When Ryan told him he's slept in a snow cave before Lincoln layed down and wanted to take a nap in it.
Just playing...

Our little fort than Ryan built for the boys. Gives you a good idea of how much snow there was in the 24 hour period.

How We Throw a Party

1. It must be 1:30 am, or everyone must be asleep.
2. Child must puke.
3. Must strip child and bed.
4. Must run 2 showers, 2 sinks, and washing machine simultaneously.
5. Must wake up baby.
6. Must make up temporary bed on couch for puker.
7. Must start to get everyone settled back down.
8. Last child must wake up and call out, "what's going on?!" like he's missing out on the best party ever.

Welcome to PukeFest '09! Aile puked once yesterday, and Caden twice so far since 1:30 am. We'll just have to wait and see if anyone else is going to join in, but I'm not feeling so hot either. So excited. SO FETCHIN' EXCITED!

The first part is unrelated, but the rest is fairly cohesive...

I am horrible at balacing the checkbook. Horr-i-bull. I know how to do it, it's just that I so very rarely do it that I end up with problems. Why am I complaining you ask? Well, because I just finished the bi-yearly balancing and it took forever. For-ev-er. Perhaps one of my new years resolutions should be to do it more often...

So, since I'm such a stellar poster in that notatallsortofway I thought I'd give you a recap of our holidays, but the Reader's Digest Condensed Version. Here we go:

We had Thanksgiving. Just us, then BIL and SIL stopped by. The men were going to shoot but got stuck in the mud. The women bonded and the kids played.

We had Christmas. We were going to go to Lake Couer d'Alene but cancelled at the last minute due to mass quantities of snow and the fear of being stuck somewhere other than our own house. The boys celebrated Festivus before Christmas by performing the Feats of Strength. I love having boys. Got to see almost all the fam on my side, dad was here, opened presents, more snow.

We had New Year's. Mom and Dad came over the kids stayed up 'til 9pm. We ate a lot, played some games, did the countdown 3 hours early, boys were fireworks, parents left, kids in bed, DH and I stayed up 'til 1am just us. Happy New Year.

I do resolutions, and just like most everything else about my life they're all about me: go to the temple more, lose more weight, floss. There are others, but this is the condensed version so I'll spare you. What are some of yours?