Pinewood Derby

5 Pinewood Derby's down, 500 more to go, maybe that is an exaggeration! Dallen and Jim had a good time building his car. I was the official check in girl for the pack. They ask me every year. Maybe next year I can pass the torch.

James 1st day of Nursery

This is a super exciting day for us! Our youngest childJames goes to nursery. He is so small there, I think he will like it. He went once before for practice and it was last month when Ashton was still in too. So he had a chance to play with his brother so he didn't feel abandoned. The teachers are so good with him.

2 dates in one day!

Jarom, our 16 year old had two dates today. Actually, I don't know if he would count either one of them. I told him that I had to be his first date. I wanted the kids to have a chance to practice. I thought the boys could practice their manners and show me that they know how to treat their dates. Our daughter could go out with her dad when she turns 16, so she knows how she should be treated on a date and not settle for less. Anyway, Jarom informed me that he was going to the movies. I found out through "20 Questions" that he wasn't going with his normal group. It was just him and his friend Rachel. "Well", I said "that sounds like a date. Remember, I have to be your first date?" I think he thought if he waited long enough I would forget. Sometimes that might be true, but not this time. Come to find out the movie was at noon and it was 9 am or so. I asked him if he planned on taking me out to breakfast? He hadn't. I was out running errands. So I told him to plan a date for us and call back and ask me out. Then proceeded to call Jim and give him the run down, so he could spot Jarom some cash. Jarom took me to an early lunch at Shari's, not my favorite restaurant, but the company was good! (I forgot it was Hawaiian shirt Monday)

We had to be quick, because we had to leave straight from there to go pick up Rachel. When I found out he was going on a date, I told him of course I would have to take pictures. He absolutely refused. I explained that he was lucky because it was Rachel and she knows us and understands. He proceeded to hide all the camera's we owned. I finally talked him into giving me back a camera if I was super discrete and they didn't notice I was taking pictures. Hence, they didn't turn out very well. It is sooo much work to try to preserve memories! Anyway, they went to see a movie that Jarom had already seen, but it is what she chose and he wanted to be polite. I think they had a great time. Later, when I was talking to Rachel's mom, my friend Alison, she said she had wished I had filled her in on the plan. She totally would have helped me out. We would make great partners in crime, well not really crime.

Do you think they were on to the paparazzi?

Germ test

Many of you that know me, know I am not good with germs. Some of my family members actually make fun of me. Here is a quiz I saw on TV a few weeks ago, I thought it was interesting. Test yourself, don't cheat! The answers are after the questions.

1. How many surfaces does the average person touch in 30 minutes?
a. 10
b. 40
c. 100
d. 300

2. Of your personal items, most germs can be found on
a. Mascara
b. Face Powder
c. Lipstick
d. Hair Brush

3. Most germs enter your body through
a. Eyes
b. Mouth
c. Skin

4. Which has more germs?
a. Women’s hands
b. Men’s hands
c. Dog’s paws

5. More than a quarter of all colds are passed by what?
a. Kissing
b. Someone sneezing in close proximity
c. Hand contact

6. What is considered the job with the most germs in America?
a. Truck driver
b. Garbage man
c. Teacher
d. Custodial worker

7. What percentage of Americans doesn’t wash their hands when leaving the restroom?
a. 12%
b. 27%
c. 33%
d. 58%

8. Where do the most common germs lurk in the kitchen?
a. Countertops
b. Sponge or dishcloth
c. Cutting board
d. Refrigerator door handle

9. How many species of microbe live in the human mouth?
a. 5
b. 50
c. 500
d. More than 700

10. Germs can escape a flushing toilet and contaminate things in the bathroom—such as toothbrushes.
a. True
b. False

11. What is the best place for your toothbrush?
a. The medicine cabinet
b. On top of the toilet
c. On the bathroom sink
d. Near a window

12. Which is usually the most contaminated object in a hotel room?
a. Remote control
b. Toilet seat and handle
c. Doorknobs within the room

13. Which of these classroom surfaces has the most bacteria?
a. Water Fountain
b. Doorknob
c. Computer Keyboard





Answers:
1. D
2. C
3. B
4. A
5. C
6. C
7. C
8. B
9. D
10. A
11. D
12. A & C
13. A & C

Now everyone can post comments

I tried to change my setting so those of you who don't have a g-mail account can now post comments. Try it and let me know if it works. Thanks to all you signed up to be a follower and post comments. I love to read what you think.

Ashton 1st day of Preschool

Ashton started Preschool today. I know it isn't the normal time to start school, but I thought I would keep him home this year, mostly for selfish reasons. He is a pretty easy going child. I really love having him at home. I have had so many years of preschool and 1/2 day Kindergarten in a row and I really wanted a break from having to worry about picking up a child in the middle of the day, especially because that is when James takes his nap. I already have kids at 3 different schools and one that has to go early for orchestra a couple of days a week. This adds up to lots of driving. I was hoping to avoid 4 schools and mid day driving for at least one year. Oh well, I gave in. Ashton is so easy, but he decided he loves to watch TV and wants to do it all day. I really didn't want him to do that. He liked to have friends over, but it didn't work out very often. So we decided we would give preschool a try. He seemed to enjoy his first day. The best part is I have a friend who has a child there too and we are going to try to car pool. Yeah!!

I always interview the kids after their first day of school each year. The older they get, the less they cooperate.

Evan's B-day

Evan turned 7 today. Yesterday he gave us his order for today, he ordered a waffle, omelet, O.J., and milk. He wanted it served in bed. This was kind of difficult for many reasons. For start we have 9AM church, Evan is usually the 1st one up and Jim was gone, so I was on my own. But I made it happen, kind of. We were not our usual 20 minutes early for church, which is when you have to show up if you want a padded seat. It turned out okay, because Jarom was there early for a meeting and he saved us seats. Anyway, Evan's most important part of the day was presents, he reminded us of this often. He got most everything he wanted, and the baseball cake he ask for. He also picked the dinner, Hawaiian Haystacks- His favorite! We had a great day.

Amery 14th B-day

Amery chose to spend the night with friends on the eve of her b-day. We didn't see her again until about 7pm on her birthday. So we had a late party for her. She is growing up so fast and turning into a beautiful young woman. She is very responsible and doesn't have to be reminded of things near as much as her brothers. She loves to spend time with her friends, listen to music, read, shop, and play with her dog Molly. She plays volleyball and the flute in band. I think she is taller than I am, or at least has much better posture :) Happy B-day Amery


The obligatory hugs after receiving a gift.

Will it ever stop??

It seems like it has been snowing for weeks nonstop, or has it been months? This is the 5th snow day we have had in the past month. Two before Christmas break and now up to three after the break. The kids are so out of the school routine. We have spent countless hours shoveling in our yard and we still have so far to go. The warmer temperatures are supposed to be on their way, along with them comes high chances for flooding. The kids are enjoying the time off now, but I am sure they will hate the make up days in the middle or end of June. Here are some pictures of Spokane. These were taken on the 1st snow day we had. Imagine this times 4 or 5 by the last snow day.

The Last Hurrah, or so we thought :)

On what we thought would be our last free day before the kids had to go back to school we decided we would have a family day. We went out to eat at our families traditional favorites. We call it an "FFD". It is where each person can choose any drive through that they want to go to and order some things off the dollar menu. This way everyone gets what they want, and we don't have to worry about the chaos we might make in an "eat in" restaurant. After that we went to Chuck E Cheese. The kids Great Grandma and Grandpa Swift gave them money to go. (If you are wondering, we didn't eat there because we just had pizza the night before.) We had a great time. Even Jarom who thought he wouldn't want to go, somehow figured out how to spend tons of tokens. Then we had to get ice cream from the cool machine they have.










After Chuck E Cheese, we headed to the Spokane Valley Mall. Evan and Ashton had recieved Build-A-Bear gift cards from their Grandma Gina and Grandpa Steve Abel. They had a fun time picking out just what they wanted. Even James, who didn't have a gift card, found a bear he couldn't live without. Since his hands were sticky from the ice cream sandwich, we were pretty much obligated. It was well worth it because he has slept with it ever since. We thought we might go to the movies after that. But by that time it was getting pretty late and we were tired. Fun times :)

Follower

I know most of you are leaders not followers, but I just added the follow my blog thing on the side. It would be great if you can sign up. This way we know who is visiting us. :)

Back Posts

I am going to work on updating my posts from the summer. This means you will have to look backwards to find out what has been happening with us. So even if you have already seen some post you will have to go back to June to make sure you haven't missed anything. We have been having so much excitement, I haven't had time to post. You even have to go back to "older post" to see some of the new ones I just put in today. I dated them according to when they happened so they would be in chronological order. I love to read your comments.

Happy New Year!!

Maybe for the New Year I should resolve to do a better job posting to my blog.

Don't hold your breath. I have too many other things I need to resolve to do better at. I am not good about New Year resolutions anyway.

We had a fun New Years Eve and everyone except for James made it to midnight. They didn't even want to go to bed then. We are in Puyallup with my family. We ate lots of good food and played many games including Spoons, Scategories, Imagine If..., a couple of games that don't have names (but were really fun), and an old family favorite-The Candy Bar Game. If any of you aren't familiar with this game I will explain. You need a giant candy bar, gloves or oven mitts, hat, scarf, apron, knife, and a pair of dice. Everyone gets in a circle and you go around as fast as you can rolling the dice. When one person gets doubles, they immediately proceed to put on all of the articlesof clothing, open the candy bar, cut one square with the knife and eat it. When they are completely finished swallowing it, they can cut another one and eat it, etc.(it is not as easy as it sounds when you are wearing big gloves, even harder-both of ours were left hand gloves). The catch is that everyone else is still rolling the dice. As soon as another person gets doubles you have to stop and immediately take everything off and give them to the other person. Most of the time you don't even get close to getting a piece of chocolate. Everyone who played got at least one piece of the candy bar this time, except for my sister Doranda. The sad part was it was her idea to play the game, she was so excited about it. She did admit after that she bought more candy bars so she could have some after all.
I hope you all have a great 2009!!