Saturday, February 28, 2009

When did it become a bad thing to be a girl?

My daughter is ten and recently decided she wasn't a little girl anymore. She decided she doesn't want to wear jumpers to school or bows in her hair. She has also decided that she's going to start choosing her own clothes. She is our first to forcefully assert her "I'm not a baby anymore!" independence. We're dealing with it and she and I have come to terms on some things and we know we're never going to agree on others. At her slumber party I discovered that most of the little girls were talking about being tom boys. They talked about all the "boy" things they did and all the girly things they hated. The thing about it was that the girly things they hated were the things that most girls there age are growing out of like dolls and tutus and the "boy" things were actually things that most girls their age do like soft ball, soccer, riding bikes, and they were at a sleep over, the #1 girls favorite activity. After the party my daughter asked what a tom boy was so I explained. She decided she was fine with being a girl, but this later changed. She caved to peer pressure I guess. After that I started noticing all the little girls that come to our house talk about being tom boys and all the "boy" things they do. Even little girls like first and second graders. Then yesterday I was helping a seven year old make her cake (light pink with hot pink polka dot, very girly) When she said to Sarah "Well I used to be a tom boy, but now I'm goth because like everyone is trying to be a tom boy now." My daughters response totally shocked me because I was sure if she didn't know what a tom boy was then she wouldn't know what goth meant. She looked at the little girl and said "Your not goth, goth means you wear all black and you wear black make up. You don't ever want anything pink or with light colors. You have to make your hair black and color on your fingernails with markers and stuff. And your making a girly pink cake so you are not goth, you just think you are." It was a joyful moment for the girl in me. I think girls should be girls and should be proud to be girls! This whole thing got me thinking - When did it become a bad thing to be a girl? Are the moms and women of the world no longer inspiring our daughters? Are we so busy in our own live that we are forgetting to teach our daughters what a good thing it is to be a girl?

Oh, and every one of those tom boys at the party made neclaces, painted nails, and did cute crafts with all the girly girls.

Friday, February 27, 2009

The Barn and the Girls







This is our new barn. It was not a nice family project, my husband said many bad words. If you ever decide to buy one of these things read the instructions before you drive out of the parking lot. First check to make sure that the instructions are in there, ours were not. Now you have to make sure they are the right instructions for the shed you are building. Now read over them several times to make sure that it is something you can do, and that they make logical since. Like for instance the front and back walls had no framing at all. You see the 2 studs on the right and left sides of the front wall, that is what they considered framing. We were supposed to brace some sheets of ply-wood together with scraps of wood, attach the studs to the outside of the front and back wall, lift them up into the air, match up all the corners and nail the thing together. We did it too, but it didn't seem very stable so we framed the wall later. If we were smart we would have done it first. After we got all four walls together we realized not only did they send us the wrong instruction, but the kit came with pieces of two or three different kits. The walls were for an 10ft X 10ft x 10ft tall building, but the floor kit was for an 8ft x 10ft building, and the rafters and trusses for the roof and loft were for an 8ft x 8ft x 8ft tall building. We had to make modifications to the walls while they were still standing. We couldn't return it, Lowe's won't take them back after you start building it, and the company wanted us to ship them the old pieces and they would ship us a new building, but smaller. We didn't have time to start over, we had to have it finished by Tuesday or code compliance was going to confiscate my chickens. I should also mention that when the instructions say lay out and mark and measure every piece of the kit before you start you really should do this. We only counted to make sure they were all there, we never bothered to measure the pieces and if we had we would have noticed something was wrong before we got the thing half built.

This is my wonderful husband building the barn that I convinced him we could build saving us like $1500.

This our Girls enjoying their new home.


This is our reward for all of my husbands hard work raising chickens. Sometimes we are rewarded with super huge double yolkers. In the second picture the egg on the left is one of our large eggs and the one next to it is a double yolker. My kids refer to them as twin egg, but they're not truly twin egg. Twin eggs are two completely formed eggs with their own membranes and sometimes their own shells inside a giant shell about the size of a grown mans hand. I can't wait till we get on of those.

By the way the chickens started out as my project, but my husband stole them from me.

New House


This is the new house! It is about three times larger than the house we lived in before. It has three living rooms, two dinning rooms, an eat in kitchen, three bathrooms, four bedrooms with the option of a fifth, and a two car garage. I think it's too big, except for the kitchen, but Oscar and the kids think it's just perfect. I also think there is way too much carpet to vacuum, but I love that we have more than one bathroom! The kids are excited that one day they will all have their own rooms.



This is some of our new furniture.
The table seats twelve if we squeeze. We are so excited to be able to fit the whole family and all the extra kids around one table.
This is the first piece of our new living room furniture. It was way more expensive than we planned on spending so we have to buy one piece at a time. Right now we just have the chair where I sit and read. I am thinking of buying just one more chair and making that a sitting room and not the living room because what do I need three living rooms for anyways.

Sarah's Birthday













Sarah has never had a real birthday with a lot of friends. We usually do family birthday because there isn't much to do in December and her birthday usually falls on the weekend that school gets out for Christmas break, so the few times that we have had parties she only gets a few friends from church. She gets so mad every year because she wants to have a slumber party, but our house was always too small so she couldn't. This year we told her that if she waited till we moved she could have a slumber party. She was so excited! She had to invite 28 of her closest friends and all of her cousins. We thought we'd get like fifteen girls at this party. We weren't concerned at all because we had no furniture downstairs yet so we had plenty of room, and besides we always send out more invitations than we want and not that many kids show up. By Friday we thought we were doing great, only seven parents had called to confirm. We were totally shocked when 24 of the 28 girls and all of her cousins showed up for her party. It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of noise, but we survived and we didn't have to send anyone home. The day after the party both of my sisters and my sister in law said to me "You never send out more than ten invitations to a slumber party because every little girl in town will show up at your door, even if you don't know who they are." I wish they had warned me before. But now we know, and now you know.



Christmas




We moved over Christmas break and I still haven't finished unpacking, but Tuesday I found the cord to my phone and so I am just now getting around to posting my Christmas pictures.
The only thing Brendan wanted for Christmas was a WII, nothing else. He said he would be happy with anything we gave him, but he really wanted a WII. We searched every where for a WII, but no one had them. We had to tell the kids they were not getting the game. They took it well, even Brendan. On the Friday before Christmas Oscar was at Target getting a gift for a co-worker and while he was there they were unloading a truck. He jokingly asked if they had a WII on the truck and the did. That night we took the kids out shopping to pick out other gifts since the weren't getting the WII. Everyone picked out gifts except for Brendan, he didn't like anything. On Christmas morning we let the kids go down the stairs to peek at the gifts under the tree,( we don"t wrap) but told them they couldn't step off the bottom step (we're mean parents who sleep in on Christmas) until mom and dad got up. Brendan was the first to go down. He took one look at the tree and came running back up the stairs. He was like I can't believe this! Why would you do that to us? It's just not fair! Why would you buy stuff for the WII if we didn't get a WII? I can't believe you would do that to us! I Don't know what is the matter with you! (don't you just love it when you hear your words coming out of your child's mouth) The WII comes in a box that is about 1/3 of the size of any other video game they have ever had before so they assumed the little box was stuff to go with the WII and not the game itself. My husband was so excited because we never surprise them with anything, we ask them what they want and take them to the store so they can show us and then we buy a few things off there list. The always have a good idea of what they are getting, they're never surprised.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I've seen these on other peoples blog so I decided to do my own.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland, Disney world actually
8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - does fish count
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Pacific Ocean
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

I've only done half, not so bad I guess.

someone pooped on me (no pictures)

So I'm sitting on my bed reading Sharla's blog when Levi starts screaming someone pooped on me, Nunna someone pooped on me! So I get up to check on him and he is covered in poop. He is the only one of the nine kids who didn't get sick last week and the week before when our house had three rounds of the stomach bug, but he is now. I tried to explain that all that came out of him, but he didn't believe me. He thinks he's potty trained and he took off his diaper so it was a nice mess, luckily most of it was on him. This is what happens when I bribe the children with TV so that I can play on the computer. Only 316 days until I rip out the carpet - Yeah!!