When it rains, it pours!

Our house is OLD! And so, we never know quite what to expect. I thought I'd share what we've experienced in the last month. The Monday before Christmas, I was washing dishes and heard a strange "whoosh," As I looked up, a waterfall was flowing down the wall behind the refrigerator!! Todd rushed down to the basement to turn the main water valve off so we could find out what was going on. We discovered that the pipes upstairs had burst due to the cold. Fortunately, we have a friend who's dad is a plumber. He hadn't left for Christmas break yet, so he came over and replaced it for us. Meanwhile, the kids were trying to mop up about an inch of water on the kitchen floor! I wish I had had a video camera going, because it was really quite funny!!!

A couple weeks later, Todd got up to go to work and none of the water in the house was working. We discovered that the main water line had frozen. A couple days later and a brillant husband, and we had water again with no broken pipes, thank goodness!

During all this, the bathroom sink decided to call it quits for awhile. We could not use the hot water or the drain, so we brushed teeth and hands in the bathtub.

Then, the toilet handle decided to break. For a couple of weeks, we were flushing the toilet by pulling a string Dexter had tied to the chain. I don't think this one affected the kids too much as it seems as though I am the only one who flushes the toilet anyway!!

Talk about your memories! I'm sure someday we'll look back and just laugh and laugh (at least I hope so!!)

FOOD

I know we have a large family, but it has always kind of confused me when people ask me about the amount of food I cook. "You must cook for an army," kind of comments. I really haven't felt as though I've had to cook a TON of food to feed everyone...that is until now. Maybe it's that Dexter and Preston are older, or maybe Emiline really does feel like she needs to store extra food in her thighs, but lately, the normal amount is not enough. It almost works, but if Todd wants anything to take to work the next day, I'm going to have to up the ante. Doubling I'm good with, but 2 1/2ing, I'm going to have to work on. Maybe I'll get all my little math quizzes to help me:).

I really love my family!!!!!

Squirrels

Squirrels. We all know them. They are cute, furry, and they live in our attic. So far, they haven't bothered us, so we've left them alone, at least until we replace the roof. Last week, we updated our 72-hour kits and decided to keep them in our attic instead of under our bed. This morning, Dexter decided to switch backpacks and discovered that a squirrel had eaten through a backpack and gotten into some of the food (ie oatmeal, fruit and hot cocoa mix--at least they had a balanced breakfast!!). Needless to say, we've brought our kits down. They topic of conversation today is how do we catch the squirrels? We'll just have to wait and see what the kids come up with. Any ideas?

A discussion arose between some of the kids about the similarities between humans and squirrels. Some felt that they were the same.

"Why?" I asked.

"Squirrlels eat just like humans." said Lacy.

"That's not true," Madison retorted, "They have terrible table manners."

I just love how kids think!!!!

Video by Dexter

The Family

We just took our attempt of a home family picture. Thought I'd post it for everyone to enjoy. It definately shows some of the personalities of my children!!