A "crabby" day...

We got Georgia 2 hermit crabs for her birthday (about a month ago): Rocky and ?? *can't remember it's name* The nameless one died about a week after we got it, so we got a replacement: Max.

Well, all SEEMED to be happy in paradise until I walked by the aquarium at 1am last night and saw Max in "the buff" and Rocky strutting around in Max's shell. Max did NOT look well - I can only assume Rocky had been eyeing Max's shell and finally decided to beat the tar out of him to get it. Can I say for a moment how thoroughly disgusting it is to look upon a naked hermit crab's exoskeleton?? *pukes*

But...my co-dependant nature took over and thus began the premiere episode of "Hermit Crab Care with Natalie"!! From 1am-2am I worked on the little guy - sterilizing shells and alternative temporary housing for him. I picked him up *double puke* and spend a good long while trying to get him back into a shell. He was completely traumatized - I don't know if was from the brawl or from my attempts at fixing him.

At about 2am - I finally gave up and put him back in the aquarium and hoped he'd climb back into this shell by himself.

At 8am I found him hiding under a little log/cave thing in the aquarium with one of his legs sitting a couple of inches away from him. *triple puke*

He did NOT look well! Meanwhile, Rocky was back in his own shell. "Nice job Buddy! Beat the crap out him for his shell and then decide you don't want it!" Typical "grass is greener" issues...

I moved naked Max -minus one leg- into quarantine - which meant sterilizing a new environment, getting separate food/water stuff set up and digging out the heating pad to put under new environment to maintain proper humidity/temperature conditions. After a -good long while- I FINALLY got him back into his old shell. *remind me to never, ever touch another exoskeleton again - quadruple puke*

We left for a few hours and when we came back it looked like he was feeling a bit better. "Whew."

Meanwhile, Rocky was now wandering around in yet another shell he had found in the aquarium. "Dude, your not going to the prom, just choose already!!"

I checked on the crabs before leaving for cheerleading : Max seemed ok and Rocky was back in his original shell. *shell change #4 for anyone who is counting*

When I came home from cheerleading, I put some extra shells in the aquarium (for Rocky in his quest) - but Max did NOT look well. He looked like he was in grave condition. I picked him up and he looked like he was at death's door. I called Georgia in to say her good-byes and he died within 3-4 minutes after that. Sad.

Sad that Mr. Dingledorf knocked off his roommate for a shell he ended up not even wanting! I'm telling ya - there is some wisdom in "thou shalt not covet".

Meanwhile - Rocky climbed into one of his new shells and walked around for a few hours -and- I kid you not, as I write this he is switching out into yet ANOTHER of the new shells. Will he ever find perfection...?

I was informed -upon agreeing to the purchase of these pets- that they were low cost and low maintenence. So far we are in the hole somewhere around $80-$90 with all of the crap stuff we've had to outfit them with and I'm performing complimentary middle-of-the-night emergency veterinary services.

Georgia's response?

She watched Max die and as soon as he stopped moving, she looked at me and said "He's dead. Can we get another crab?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a lighter note - well, actually a "heavier" one... remember my caramel cement from yesterday? *By the way - the kids ate the apples anyway! They sat there licking them like suckers for the entire length of a movie and still didn't get all the way through them!* Well, I tried to doctor it after I ruined all of the apples so I heated the caramel back up and added more sugar/brown sugar/corn syrup/ fat-free 1/2 and 1/2 (I had run out of the kabillion calories per teaspoon heavy whipping cream) and let it boil till the sugar dissolved. I wasn't sure about the 1/2 and 1/2 since I'm sure there is some scientific reason WHY you have to use the heavy whipping cream - but I figured worst case scenario...it doesn't get any worse.

It ended up turning out just a little thicker than the carmel sauce that Starbucks uses in their caramel macchiatos.

So I ate a large quantity of it.

I mean LARGE.

*she said with extreme guilt*

I don't know how much I had - but after eating many spoonfuls out of the pot, pouring some in my coffee, eating more out of the pot, pouring it over popcorn, and eating more out of the pot. I had -quite- the tummy ache. WOW! I haven't eaten like that in a very long time.

But I tell ya - if you're gonna fall off the wagon...do it with homemade caramel sauce! Wooooooooo baby!!**

**And I was only 2.5 pounds away from being able to say "I LOST 50 POUNDS!!!" *sigh* Well, we'll see what the damage is soon enough!

Caramel Apple video...

Here'a a little video of my caramel apple making experience today! I tried to make the caramel from scratch.

**Key word = tried

Birthday Buddies...

So, my VERY dear friend Nita celebrates her birthday today! *checks watch - well technically yesterday* She lived across the street from me for the first 6 months I lived at my current house - then she and her husband moved about 1 1/2 hrs away. *sniff, sniff*

We went out for a birthday lunch on Sunday after church and had a blast. She is my equal in spazziness and silliness so when we get together we have WAY too much fun. She gave me one of my presents in a singing gift bag, which was hilariously LOUD in the restaurant we were in! She totally stocked me up on Yankee candles - my favorite!! (She knows I'm too cheap to actually buy them.)

Here are pics from our birthday lunch:

Look at all of my lovely gifts!!!

Here is Eric with his singing birthday bag!

Pumpkin Patch & Veggie Tales...

Yesterday we had a fun "family day". We had gotten an invitation to a special screening of the upcoming Veggie Tales movie: "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" (comes out in January). The film was mostly finished , put still had some stuff that needed to be wrapped up - like putting the score in etc...

The screening was about 40 miles from our house, so we found a pumpkin patch in that area and made a day of it. We were going to go through the "corn maze" (to the tune of $28 for a family of six) but realized we might cut it too close to the movie time and we didn't want to be lost in a corn maze and risk missing the movie. So, we just took pictures in the pumpkin patch and ran around and called it good. Here are some pics:

Here's Eric playing tag with Zane through the patch.

Eric and the wonder twins.

On the tractor pull.

Dach

Our first candidate of the year for "the" Christmas card photo...

Photos from Cali and the loooooong ride home...

Ah yes - the Pastor's Wives Conference earlier this month. I don't think I ever wrote about it. It was a VERY relaxing trip. The temperature was 87 degrees while we were there! Compared to the 47 degrees we came home to! *brr!*

I had a great time - I learned a lot, met a lot of women, re-connected with some women I hadn't seen in a while, laid in the sunand generally truly relaxed for 2 whole days! Here are some pics:

Look at those palm trees in the background!! *sigh*

This is me (far left) with the 2 other pastor's wives from my church. We sent this picture to all of our husband's cell phone! I'm quite SURE it made them EVEN happier to be at home in the rain with our 13 collective children!!

Can you guess where I am?!?!**

After 2 1/2 days of glorious fun, we arrived home in Seattle at 9:15pm. Eric picked me up at the airport with all 4 kids in tow. Here is the 15 minute "conversation" I witnessed within minutes of my return. Driving on the freeway coming home from the airport:

The kids were playing the "copy game". One person makes a statement, if the statement is a statement you agree with then you have to copy them (repeat the statement) if you disagree with it, then you must remain silent. If you copy something that you don't actually agree with - then you are out of the game. Equally, if you remain silent when a statement is made that you actually agree with - you are out of the game. They play it at top speed, trying to trip each other up...

Zane: "I like dolls"

Dach: -silence-

Georgia & Maisie: "I like dolls"

Zane: "I think bugs are yummy"

-silence-

Zane: " I'm the coolest person on the earth"

Georgia & Dach: -silence-

Maisie: "I'M THE COOLEST PERSON ON THE EARTH!!!"

Zane: "You're out!!"

Maisie: "No, I'm not!!"

Zane: "Yes, you are! You are NOT the coolest person on the earth!!"

Maisie: "YES I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zane: "NO YOU AREN'T!!!! GOD IS!!!!"

Georgia: "Actually...God isn't on the earth. He's in heaven."

Maisie: "HA-HA!!"

Zane: "FINE! Whatever!"

Zane: "I'm the SECOND coolest person on the earth!"

Maisie: "I'M THE SECOND COOLEST PERSON ON THE EARTH!!"

Zane: "You're out!!"

Maisie: "No, I'm not!!"

Zane: "Yes, you are! You are NOT the second coolest person on the earth!!"

Maisie: "YES I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zane: "No you aren't - JESUS IS!!!! HA!"

Georgia: "Jesus doesn't live on the earth. He lives in heaven with God."

Zane: "NUH-UH!! He lives in our hearts and our hearts live on the earth. So he IS the second coolest person on the earth! HA!"

Georgia: "Jesus IS God - so even if He DOES live in our hearts, He isn't the second coolest person on the earth because He is God and God is the coolest person - except that He doesn't live on the earth. So he and God are both equally the coolest people - but not on earth. They are the coolest people in heaven."

-thinks-

Georgia: "But the Holy Spirit lives there too...so really it is a three-way tie for the coolest person in heaven - but not on earth. Chia can actually be the coolest OR second coolest person on earth if she wants to be..."

Maisie(screams): "I AM THE COOLEST AND SECOND COOLEST PERSON ON THE EARTH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Georgia: "Um, actually - you are only one person..."

Zane: "OH, FORGET IT!!! I WON."

*insert 3-way screaming match over who is the current crowned champion of the event*

"Wow, I'm so glad you all could come to pick me up at the airport..."

Dach's birthday...

So, as usual - a zillion things to write about and no time to do it!

First of all - Dach's birthday party. Well, I finally did it...I threw the kid a party. It was pathetic at best...but it was a party! The 4th child of most families end up with no photos of himself. Mine ends up with no theme parties!

He wanted to go ice skating. His birthday was Friday the 12th, so I had "planned" that we would do a party at the local ice rink on Sunday afternoon between church and our evening home fellowship bible study. The only parts of the "plan" that I neglected were:

1. Contacting the ice rink to reserve a table

2. Sending out invitations

Minor issues, I know. I finally got on the ball and called the ice rink 5 days before the "scheduled" party. The lady laughed when I told her what day I wanted to reserve a table - "Okaaaaaaaaaaay, I'll check..." *crap* She came back a couple of minutes later and said "I can't EVEN believe it - but you are SO LUCKY!!! We have a table that day! And it's even available for the time slot you want!!" *thank-you-Jesus-for-overcompensating-for-my-slacker-issues*

I was so pathetic I didn't even bake a cake. I threw together some cupcakes on his actual birthday, then wrapped up the leftovers to save for the party. Just to clarify - in my dysfunctional theme party brain: having cupcakes for your birthday is like getting a lump of coal in your stocking. I am MUCH more likely to invest 5-10 hours constructing some never-been-attempted-before theme cake. Like I said...dysfunctional.

We had a little cupcake-fest on Friday evening:

"Here Dude - Mommy can't find a used "5" candle in her "cake decorating box of wonders", and turning the used "2" candle upsidedown to look like a "5" wasn't as brilliant as she originally thought, so...let me cram 5 giant candles onto your personal lump of birthday coal and call it good. Oh yeah - and be careful, health-nut Mommy thought it would be a great idea to substitute the oil with ground flaxseed - so the whole thing will fall apart and turn into a pile of crumbs if you touch it."

Here's the whole gang. Look at those chins - I love 'em! That would be Eric's DNA contribution...

Here are some shots from the ice rink a couple of days later:

Dach

Oh look - the theme is..............blue. [Actually the theme was "what masculine partyware does the dollar store have for sale the night before the party?"]

Same pathetic cupcakes - smaller candles.

Can you guess what is wrong with this picture?? That's right! My 27 year old sister Melody finally figured out why her feet were hurting..."LEFT SKATE GO ON LEFT FOOT! RIGHT SKATE GO ON RIGHT FOOT! PUT SKATES ON WRONG FEET AND FEET HURT!"

Heh - that was HIGHLY amusing! She skated for almost an hour like that before Maisie looked at her skates and announced loudly "YOUR SKATES ARE ON THE WRONG FEET!!!!!!!!!" Too funny. I guess that is a perfect example of what twin toddlers can do to your motor skills. Melody is even spazzier than me - if you can imagine...

10:18PM on 10/18 (What else did you expect?!)

And so all good things must come to an end...

Well, here's the condensed version of my special day:

My boys paid no heed to the importance of this day and acted like manics! *insert heavy annoyed sigh* Sweet Georgia did all of her homeschool without being told. Then with NO prompting from me - she proceeded to sweep the living room and hallway and unload the dishwasher. *The golden child*

Aside from Georgia's very kind attempt to balance out the ding-dong twins - by the afternoon, the day was feeling very average. Eric to the rescue...

Eric called me and said, "I'll meet you at football practice. You drop off all 4 kids with me and you go shopping by yourself. Take as long as you need."

Wellalrightythen!!!!!

He gave me ANOTHER giftcard and sent me on my way. *I clearly remember saying to him "$30 limit on my gift this year!" $55 in giftcards later... He overspends on me EVERY SINGLE TIME! "You deserve it" he says. How can a girl argue with that?!*

One of the giftcards was for TJ MAXX. "Wow, just me and my giftcards! What a VERY happy birthday!!" I arrive at TJ MAXX and see this sign on the door:

"TJ MAXX is closed due to power outage. Sorry!"

Sorry?

REALLY?

Are you sorry? Sorry enough to entertain my 4 children while I shop, when I come back tomorrow with them in all their glory?!

I went over to the mall to see about using my GAP card.

Fact: The "Long & Lean" GAP jeans are aptly named.

Fact: They are $59.50 a pair.

Who buys these? Seriously??!! $60? For ONE pair of jeans. *One FABULOUS pair of jeans - but still jeans* The size 14 fit nicely and the size 12 fit obnoxiously tight. I got them done up - but that doesn't make it okay...

I found a pair of pants on the clearance rack for $6.97 (much more my speed) and called it good.

I realized I was starving at this point and *after watching my stomach fat lob over those size 12 like a jumbo muffin top* I passed on my FAVORITE fish 'n chips joint and ordered the "healthy" meal at Taco Time. Did you know that a light crispy chicken taco, cup of white chicken chili and a medium diet coke is only 255 calories?! Why have I not been frequenting this restaurant?? I was STUFFED. And on 255 calories! Nice!!

I checked back at TJ MAXX - still closed. "Maybe I'll just stop in at Ross real quick." *1 1/2 hours later...*

I ended up buying some cords (my FAVORITE kind of pants), and a skirt - size "L", as in large, as in NOT "XXL" thankyouverymuch.

I came home and since the kids were already asleep *shucks!* I had my own little private disco party. Because, a birthday isn't a birthday without disco.

Here is a clip from 10:18pm (on 10/18). Excuse the hyperness - that would be the 5 hours of alone time talking...

Ok, well...it's off to bed and back to reality tomorrow...

10:18am on 10/18!!

Eric gave me a giftcard for the GAP and brought me a carmel macchiato first thing this morning. *cheers* AND - I hit the 45 pound mark this morning---finally---!! That was a nice birthday surprise!

Here's a little something I put together at the "sacred hour"!!

Sadly, that's about as much birthday excitement as I've had yet today. We are being hit with a windstorm and there is a good chance we could lose electricity. We leave for footbll/cheerleading practice in 5 minutes. I can't think of any way I'd like to spend my birthday more than standing on a football field in 50 mile an hour winds!! Perhaps I'll bring some bamboo shoots for my fingernails.

Stay tuned to see if we have power at 10:18PM on 10/18...

iNatalie...

So, Georgia gets a free IMAC laptop for the school year through a homeschool program we are involved in. I have been taking it for a spin since I know --ZERO-- about Macs. So far, so good. There are some fun prgrams on it such as "photo booth". I will now grace you with my handiwork:

A photo taken with the built-in camera...

And a few taken after a couple of drinks with some various camera effects...

Ah yes...that was fun! It's a nifty little laptop but I am not quite on the mac bandwagon yet. We'll see...

Did I mention my birthday is in 2 days? What, you already have it on your calendar? I thought you might! I am settings my expectations -----LOW------ as it is a homeschooling with 4 kids by day and football & cheerleading practice by evening kind of day. Not really seeing much of a pampering day coming down the pipeline. I'll have to see if I can get this ivideo that Georgia made uploaded to youtube and post it. It is a classic "life with Natalie" video.

**edit**

Ok, I think I got the video figured out. Let's just call this a typical moment in my day...

Dear Hero...

I was just correcting some of Georgia's schoolwork and came across the following writing assignment:

[preface: She is working on a unit on heroes. The unit starts out with a story about Harriet Tubman.]

Instructions: "Write a letter to someone you think is a hero. This person can be someone you know or someone you've read about. What makes this person a hero? Think of the specific heroic deeds this person has done. Write to your hero. telling what you admore about him or her."

Here's what she wrote:

Dear Wonder Woman,

You are my hero because you save peoples and persons, and I think your suit is cool. I like your black wavy hair, I also like you..

Love, Georgia

*laughs*

Oh my goodness, I just turned the page - it just gets better and better.

Instruction: What do you think makes a hero? Harriet Tubman was very brave. She also put herself in harm's way to help others. Thank of the things that make someone a hero. Write at least five things on the certificate below."

Here's her list:

1. Capes

2. Boots

3. Beautiful super suit

4. Kindness

5. Niceness

Well, this week I guess we'll be working on clarity...

*smoothes wrinkles out of beautiful super suit*