Week of October 19 - 25

Look! We had a canning project again at the Skinner house! This is actually the only one of the year. I did tomatoes, but I did them on my own, which is fine since you usually only have a little bit at a time. Not so with fruit! Since I found out how much easier it is to can when I put my children to work, I will never go back to doing fruit on my own! They are terrific! We did six boxes of apples (all free from my neighbor) in four hours -- not counting set-up and clean-up. Mariah was at a party when this picture was taken, but when she got back, she helped, too. We even put the neighbor kids to work when they came over to play -- in a Tom Sawyerish type move. Tricky, huh? Canning applesauce is a MESS, so doing it in the backyard was heaven, too. The girls were great and never complained and did everything I asked of them. (Bizarre, huh??) At the end of the day, we canned 15 1/2 gallon bottles and 4 funky bottles that hold 7 cups each which would be the same as 37 quarts. It was a very productive day!

You know, canning in Utah has got to be a lot easier than anywhere else. First, I often get offered free fruit from others' trees or produce from their garden. Second, when I take on a project like this, I can go to my neighbors, who also can, and borrow more pots and canners and strainers, so I can easily set up the production-line you see in the picture. Where else can you live that your neighbors have those kinds of things??!!

Let's see. Everyone went to school this week, although Mariah has not felt well with headaches and a sore throat. The thought of missing school makes her very anxious, though, so she went even so!

The girls all spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house Friday night (except Beth) so Kevin and I got to go out to eat and watch a rented movie completely uninterrupted!

Megan and Sarah joined the new, after-school, school choir and even though they've only been doing it for two weeks and it only meets one day a week, they've been singing the songs together ever since. It is fun, especially since they are not typically my spontaneous singers.

Beth started saying, "No! No! No!" this week. I guess that's what I get for wishing she would start saying a new word -- any word! It's actually very handy for her especially when she's outside and we start bringing her in and she starts squirming and yelling, "No! No! No!" Nice. Actually, she started saying, "Owie," this week, too. She's still signing "down" for when she wants up and signs "eat" pretty regularly. I'm working on the sign for "milk." She also says, "Mom," and "what's that?" But that's all.

Overall, we're doing well. The days are glorious, even though they are getting cool. Take care!

Before I begin, let me just say:

1. No, we didn't decide to try one more time for a boy.

2. No, I am not trying to keep up with my brother -- worthy though he is of emulation.

and 3. Yes, we do know what causes it.

I heard a heartbeat today! It looks like there will be another Skinner on Brookside Dr. before school lets out for the summer.

I am 12 weeks and two days today and am due on May 3rd. All of us here on Brookside Dr. feel very blessed . . . and very excited for spring!

Savannah had a rough week. She started feeling ill last week and it continued into this week. She missed almost half of the week! It was her last week of Cross Country, too, so she was really sad. We also felt chagrined that the timing of her sickness was so unfortunate. But, what can you do? The kids actually only had three days of school last week, so by the weekend, Savannah was feeling better. Yea! She will have to be a cross country star next year.

The weather this week was glorious! Look at that fall color right outside my front door!


Since the kids didn't have school and the weather was so nice, they did a lot of playing at the leaf hotel across the street. Actually, this week, it got changed to a magical school for girls. This is a picture of some of them across the street at their favorite autumn haunt. I have such patient neighbors!

Here is Sarah giving a tour if you are interested:

On Friday, we decided to go to the zoo! "This is the place" where we had lunch (heh, heh):

Here's everybody in front of the giraffes! When I went to buy tickets, I said, "One adult and six children," and the ticket lady said, "One adult and SIX children??!?" I counted back really quickly in my head, "Uh, yeah?" I replied a little less confidently. "Wow!" said the ticket gal, "You are one brave lady!" Funny, huh? As if they're tough to take to the zoo! The older ones take care of the younger ones. Mariah took pictures. I hardly had to do anything! It was great.

Cali and Cheyenne were so excited to see the zebras!

Even Beth found a friend!

By the time we made it to the gorillas (which are pretty much last), we'd been at the zoo a little over an hour and a half. The girls were saying, "When are we going back to the car?? My feet are going to fall off!" Whimps, huh? I told them it was a good thing Hogle Zoo is so small, they'd never make it in San Diego!

Friday night, Kevin's dad came and went out to eat with us and stayed the night. It was great fun to have a visit from Grandpa Skinner!

Isn't that sweet? Why is it that babies this age love to help with the dishes? It's such a cute stage -- if you can handle the water sloshed all over the counters and floor and, of course, on the baby herself. This is the kitchen after I spent an hour doing the dishes. Yes, a whole hour! It was just the dinner dishes and I even have a dishwasher. I also have a husband and seven children, but my husband was at a meeting at church, and I thought I'd give the kids a night off and let them play. Nice, huh? Yeah. I don't think I'm doing that again real soon!

Anyhoo . . . At Savannah's school, they had "Dress up like a hero" day. Savannah dressed up like Sacagawea. Look at that! She is a natural. Too bad I didn't get a close-up of the stylin' rock earrings!

The girls have been playing in their leaf hotel all week -- so much so, that Megan didn't do any of her homework, as I found out on Friday. Nice, huh? That is going to have to change. On a happier note, she started chess club this week! She is going to make huge progress since she didn't know anything at all on her first day! She's game, though and ready to learn!

Here is Sarah and her cello since I didn't have a picture last week. Looks like she's having fun doesn't it?

It has been so cold here already that I talked Kevin into buying me a little electric fireplace. It is warm and has pretend flames. I love it! I planted bulbs on Saturday -- so, I am already dreaming of spring!

Week of September 28 - October 4

Sarah has decided to join the 6th grade orchestra at school. She is learning cello! Can you believe it? We borrowed a cello from a neighbor, fixed the strings, bought some rosin, and she is set to go. I encouraged her to give the cello a try since we already have two violin players, plus the cello would give her extra practice on the bass cleff. Then I watched her carry it home . . . and repented all my encouragement! My goodness! How many times did I lug my violin back and forth from school and curse myself for not taking up the flute instead? I suppose it's good that I didn't base her decision on the weight of the instrument. She's having a good time. It is definitely not the same quality of instruction she would get from a private Suzuki teacher, but I am loving, actually, not being involved! Hee, hee. Do I sound like a really slacker mom? Hey! She is still getting privat piano lessons that I am serious about. If she likes cello, great! If she doesn't, no skin off my back! (Although, there might be some off hers -- I'm telling you, that thing is BIG!) :)

The weather turned COLD this week! On Wednesday we had rain (cold rain) and snow in the mountains. Brrrr. I don't like it, naturally. However, the cold means the first leaves are starting to fall which means the girls and other neighborhood kids have created their hotel once more at the house across the street. They use the leaves to outline the rooms in the hotel which also has a jail for when people break the rules (such as walking through walls -- a big problem in such a hotel, let me assure you). They have been having a great time.

Mariah's last soccer game was this week -- on Wednesday -- when it was so cold! I watched from the car. :) I am so supportive! She had a lot of fun this season and she learned a lot. Fortunately, this team picture was taken on a warmer day!

The twins are still loving kindergarten. They react to it in very different ways, though. The other day when they came home I asked Calianne, "How was school?" "Good!" she replied. "What did you do?" I asked. "I don't know. I can't remember." Then Cheyenne started demanding my attention. Before I could say anything, she said, "Mom! Guess what we did today? We got to pretend like we were parent dinosaurs and we had to get the right number of food for the right number of eggs!" "Wow!" I said, "How fun! Cali, do you remember feeding the baby dinosaurs?" Cali looked thoughtfully at the ceiling then back at me, "I remember having dinosaur treats. . ." "Guess what else?" Cheyenne asked. "We learned how to make face sandwiches!" Cali went on happily swinging her legs ignoring us while she ate her bread and Cheyenne smiled proudly to herself while she put her backpack away. Calianne is the one who always speeds boldly through her homework and Cheyenne crafts each letter with care and deliberation. They are an endless source of fascination to me.

Guess who won America's Got Talent? Kevin Skinner! Funny, huh? Kevin says that his web pages used to come up first when you googled his name, but now he can't find himself until page six! Funny, huh? But, he says his booksales went way up about ten days ago and he wonders if it's because people searched for his name at Amazon and found his book instead of the singer for whom they were searching. It's a small world, huh?