i don't claim to know it all. i don't claim to be perfect. i just claim to love jesus.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

gophers and juicy fruit

did you know that apparently gophers can not digest gum. and their favorite to 'not digest' is juicy fruit. no? well me either. til yesterday.

we've seen gophers. oscar (our dog) has caught and killed gophers. and it's been all good. because they've been outside. til sunday. sunday shaun saw one in our basement. monday. i saw it in our kitchen. i was officially disgusted. i actually left the house. mainly because i am a big baby. lol. plus then the kids got to spend the day at grandma's house. and it was SO hot yesterday it was nice to sit in some central air.

i then looked up how to kill gophers. yes. i'm mean. i want them dead. if they'd stay out of my house and my yard and our fields...i'd be fine with them. but since they aren't. the must leave. and since they can't read my eviction notice on facebook...well...death becomes them. apparently they like gum. til the realize they can't digest it. so i went to wally world and bought the biggest multi pack of juicy fruit my money could buy. and the also don't the the human smell ((i'm thinking my house smells humanly...but they got in and the realize YIKES! i need to get out. they better.)) and apparently they don't like the smell of ammonia, or it kills them...the writer wasn't sure. so i bought three jugs of ammonia. the stuff is only a buck a jug. so with that and the gum...we're hopefully getting rid of the gophers for around 10 bucks. (and i figured the gum the gophers don't eat, my kids will.)

breigh keeps calling the gophers goats. or wolves. neither of which i'd like in my house. but a goat could work to our advantage in the yard. so at any rate i'm praying they leave...pronto.

in other news...shaun was off of work for five days. he ended up getting an infection called cellulitis. we're not sure how he got it. but it started a few days before we went in, and then we went in because shaun was in a bit of pain. and it was spreading. i'm so thankful we went in and that God protected him from it getting worse. he's on anti-biotics yet, but other than that doing well. the ER doctor took him off of work, so that's why he was home. it was so nice to have him home for five days. it's the first time he's been off for awhile without us having a planned vacation or something. so it was nice. i honestly missed him yesterday when he had to go to work. (who created bills and stuff..i'd love to have him home everyday!) ((i also missed him even more after seeing the gopher. :) lol))

evaleigh turned one month old saturday! i can't believe it's been an entire month. she's the most perfectest (no that's probably NOT a word) newborn. she's been sleeping through the night for weeks. and since this weekend sleeping til about seven AM. (from between 9-10 the night before) i LOVE it. it's nice to get the sleep i need to function caring for the other four kiddos. i know i thank God for that everyday. i thank God each day for the kiddos we've been blessed with. even though it gets crazy at times...i am so blessed. and so thankful for them. and the opportunity i have to raise them. but i have to admit, it's crazier when shaun is home! i don't know why. but i think it's because the kids are so excited to see him then they all go crazy..shaun included! it blesses me so much to see shaun be a daddy. i'll admit that my relationship with my dad wasn't very close growing up. mainly because he worked super hard to support our family. which meant he wasn't home a lot. so i'm glad that my kids have the opportunity to be close to their dad growing up from little on. and he takes advantage of every moment he's home to be with them...even if it's being crazy ten minutes before bedtime. but i give them all the 'mom' look and they settle down. lol.

caitlyn wanted to wear underwear the other week. woo hoo. but she didn't quite 'get' it. so we went back to diapers. i don't like cleaning up pee messes all the time. plus she clearly wasn't 'getting' it. she didn't have 'accidents' where she didn't make it in time. she just peed while playing. so maybe in a few weeks we'll try again. i'm not a big pusher when it comes to training. but mr. dustin...i don't know. he's been telling me right after he goes that he went. and told me the other day he had to poop. although i didn't realize he told me that until later (after it was in his diaper). SO out of the ordinary for me to have him showing/telling me things like that! the girls never did.. so who knows maybe we'll go from three to one in diapers. ((which hasn't happened since amelya was 15 months old!!))

we're using cloth diapers. so to me it doesn't matter if i have one or three. i just wash them and am not constantly buying more. evaleigh's been in cloth since being home from the hospital. i have to say, it's so nice to not have to buy the diapers for a newborn. they go through them like crazy. i am however washing more diapers. :) but it's all good. and i know how much money i'm saving. and they're so darn cute!!

breigh and amelya will be starting 'school' soon. it seems so weird. amelya will be finishing up kindergarten. (we started in february with K) and breigh will continue to work through pre-k type stuff. in december/january when we finish up the K program amelya will move right into 1st grade. but i'm unsure what i'll do with breigh right now. technically she doesn't turn 5 til next june. which means starting K then. amelya was 5 when we started K with her. so i'm just going to see what breigh is doing and where to go. which is a huge advantage to homeschooling. she needs a bit more one on one than amelya does, so i'm blessed to be able to get that time with her. amelya is super independent. it is amazing and a blessing to me to see her reading books and doing math problems. we're using my father's world again. and we add in singapore math for...you guessed it math. :) they also will take some classes through a local homeschooling group. i'm so glad there's an outlet for us to join with other homeschooling families. you can connect with them and bounce ideas off each other. and to just know that they're going through the same stuff you are. it's a great thing! and i'm excited to be a part of it. i also think it'll be a great outlet for the kiddos to make some friends and connect with other kiddos of all ages. it's nice that it's not just seperated by grades, but mulitiple grades take classes together.

and because a picure is always fun. here's one of amelya from last week. :)

anyways. i think i've updated what's been going on. :) i'm going to be back hopefully later for more blog time. so i can catch YOUR blogs! :)

20 loving words from you.:

Jen said...

Sounds like you've been crazy busy! I always love reading your updates.

That Amelya sure is gorgeous; as are all the rest of the kiddos, of course.

(Hugs)

Jennifer W. said...

You've been busy!! I don't think we have gophers around here, but we have opossums and armadillos that tear the yard up-they don't get into the house thankfully!! I'm glad Shaun is ok, infections can be such a scary thing! I'm totally jealous that Evaleigh sleeps through the night...I'm hoping the new baby will do that, but right now, I'm just trying to deal with the nausea and anemia. I'm pretty miserable most of the time! :( I know it will pass, though, and it's certainly all worth it in the end!! The pic is beautiful...you got some pretty kiddos!!
Jen

Ruth said...

Sound's like you've been busy. I have heard that about the gophers and gum. I didn't believe it all I could see in my head where the silly things chewing gum and blowing bubbles....as crazy as that sounds. My friends mom is a gardener...she learned it in one of her master gardener classes. Good luck with the potty training. We are going through that to with Maddy.

Kelli said...

ugh glad I'm not dealing with the gopher! sounds gross, I would have left too! :) Glad to hear all the kiddos are doing good and I hope you are too! I'm praying things go smoothly for you. Oh and I'm quite jealous of your sleeping children! Hopefully Amy can figure out my insurance and we can start taking Lilly in on a regular basis! :)

LOVE the pic of Amelya!

Jen@Scrapingirl said...

The Jens are ruling the comments so far. :) I hope you get rid of your unwanted guests. :)

Holly said...

Your gopher problem sounds like a combo of our cat and mouse prob. The cats outside and the mice inside. Luckily, pretty much all the cats are taken care of and there's at least 1 mouse still in the house. Hope you can get rid of that gopher!!

-stephanie- said...

So you're going to have dead gophers around your house with little tiny bubbles coming out of their mouths? HA! Hope it works. My MIL has a gopher around her house and tried to get rid of it, but after a while she decided she thought it was cute and let it live under her porch. I think she feeds it too.

Stay cool...it's going to be a hot week.
Miss "A" is adorable.

Kristin said...

I love having my husband home, too! We are so fortunate that he gets two months off every winter. People always ask me if I'm ready for him to go back to work and have him "out of my house" and my answer is always NO! I love him here. :-)

Kelli W said...

I'm not even sure I know what a gopher is...was the animal in Caddy Shack a gopher?!? I'm glad Shaun is doing better...I'm sure a trip to the ER was a scary thing! I can't believe little miss E is sleeping through the night so well...I think mine were at least 3 months or older before they even slept for 8 hours straight!

Sarah MP said...

Wow- I feel so jealous that she's sleeping all night already. Owen was doing so well going about every 4-5 hours, but now he's awake every 2-3 and it's just killing me. Of course he had to get on this schedule now that dad is back to work and less able to help throughout the night.
I don't have faith like you do, but hopefully I can get through this and have a happily sleeping baby soon!

Sarah MP said...

Wow- I feel so jealous that she's sleeping all night already. Owen was doing so well going about every 4-5 hours, but now he's awake every 2-3 and it's just killing me. Of course he had to get on this schedule now that dad is back to work and less able to help throughout the night.
I don't have faith like you do, but hopefully I can get through this and have a happily sleeping baby soon!

Stephanie said...

I am SO behind on your blog!

I did read about the gophers yesterday on facebook - I'm hoping your cure works!!!!!!

I'm with you on the bills and stuff - who came up with that idea. I hate it! :)

More Than Words said...

I read about your gopher incident on Facebook! I would have been freaking out too!!!!!!

Besides that and your hubby getting sick, it sounds like you are doing well!! Does everyone fight over the baby? LOL

He & Me + 3 said...

OMGosh what to comment on first. Yikes on the gophers. YOu should call that crazy guy from TV that traps all the critters. LOL
WE have a pest and bug guy that goes to our church so I call him anytime I see anything. It is kindof nice.
Can't believe that the baby is already a month old. Time flies.
Hope Shaun is back to normal. It is weird when they are home and then again when they have to go back to work.
Beautiful picture of Amelya. She is so gorgeous.
I sure wish that cloth diapers were more popular when my kids were wearing them.
Have a great rest of the week.

carissa said...

your amelya is too beautiful! i love that precious picture! i still don't know how you manage to do the cloth diaper thing. most days i feel like all i'm doing is changing diapers so i can't imagine having to wash all of them too! ; ) you are wonder woman mama! sage needs to get some tips from evaleigh. lets just say she's high maintenance. but her cuteness keeps me from being too crabby. : )

Kristin said...

That is hilarious, buying juicy fruit for the gopher! LOL! Hope it works!!!! :D

Hoping for our own Peanut said...

I never the time to say a real CONGRATS on baby Evaleigh. She is an absolute doll. You are blessed, and you know it. Im glad things are going well. :)

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

you are so busy and so much fun! I love catching up with you!

{:miss v:} said...

Wow! I didn't know gophers liked Juicy Fruit! hahahaha! I hope you're successful...you meanie! haha!

Beccalynn said...

Gum and ammonia. How weird!