Just a pic

Meet Reem

This is our 12 year old neighbor Reem. I call her Reemie. She is so sweet and so much fun. I honestly can't believe she's only 12 because she seems a lot older than that. Reem comes over to the house almost every day at around 4pm just to hang out. She tells me about school stuff, plays with the kids, you name it. She is great company.

I love my Reemie!

Life from Frannie's Point of View

My last post was about a hectic day. Well as I was trying to make lunch and Adam was crying and the baby was hanging off of my legs, Frannie came to me with Jason's camera and asked if she could take some pictures. "Sure, yeah, fine." Like I am going to argue when at least one kid has found a way to keep herself busy? Anyways, as I loaded the SD card I did a slideshow and saw all of the pictures she took. It totally cracked me up! Here is a bit of life from her point of view:










And don't forget the Thumb's Up pic I already posted.

I have 3 hours to make it look like I lead a calm and well-organized life

It's 12 o'clock. In three hours I have a couple coming to the house to make up class 5 that they missed.

I just finished making lunch for the kids. My kitchen looks like this. That pie looking thing on the counter is a macaroni/broccoli/cheese/hotdog amalgam that I threw together because we don't have our normal lunch stuff in the house. I had to get creative, but getting creative gets everything dirty and takes time.

Every other downstairs room also needs attention. The bathroom is scummy and there are crumbs all over my floor near the dining room table.

Adam is in a bad mood.


The entire time I was making lunch either he was crying or the baby was if I tried to set her down.


If I put her down she grabs onto my pants and buries her head between my knees.


Frannie took this picture of me. Yep. Thumbs up.

Goin' for a walk

Here's the sweetie practicing her skills!

Adam and James

Jason took some adorable pictures of the boys at Disneyland. Who needs rides?

Curing an Ear Infection Naturally

On Saturday afternoon Adam started complaining that his ear hurt. Then suddenly, his complaints became cries and sobs telling me "Mama! my eaw hoots!". After forcing some Tylenol down him, I called my pal Sonja who cured her own ear infection without antibiotics. After whipping out her handy dandy natural health reference book she gave me several tips. Taking her advice and doing a few searches online here is what I did:

1. Sleep with the infected ear up to allow fluid to drain down.

2. Put 2-3 drops of warm olive oil in the ear.

3. A few hours later put a few drops of warm garlic juice in the ear.

4. About an hour or two after that put a few more drops of olive oil in the ear.

Can you picture me tiptoeing in Adam's bedroom in the night doing this? I felt really silly. He stayed asleep though.

Come morning time he was good as new. There haven't been any complaints from him since!