As busy as a beaver. That's us! Only 15 minutes into April 9 and I've already learned my "new thing" for the day. I finally had the urge to figure out how to get a picture off my cell phone and on to the computer. This is a picture of Sacagawea examining a beaver fall at the nature center last week. 
Beavers are such industrious critters. I bet they wouldn't wait until a week before the deadline to start on their taxes. I just finished got ours "done enough" to drop them off at the CPA's tomorrow for review. I still need to round up a few more receipts and verify a few of the numbers. I'm seriously contemplating filing an extension for the very first time. I simply have too many other things to do during the next week.
And then there is this blog which I've been rather neglectful of lately. I've sooo much to update here. Since my tax returns are printing, I think I'll go to bed. Only a few more hours until I need to get up to restart my day!
*If anyone can tell me the trick to get my cell phone's memory card out of the USB adapter, I'd be grateful. It doesn't want to slide out as easily as it slid in.
We're busily getting ready for The Man, M and J to leave for a church mission project in Chile. This is the first time the boys will have used their passports for international travel, and they sure are excited. M bought a camera yesterday so they will bring back lots of pictures.
Out of all the exciting things they could be excited about, the conversation yesterday was all about the seasons. It will be winter when they leave here. They will arrive in Chile (in the southern hemisphere) in the summer. A few days later it will become fall, and then when they fly back here it will be spring. They will experience all four seasons in a span of 2 weeks. It doesn't take much to excite homeschoolers!
Picture taken 2/6/09
I haven't been on the computer much the past few weeks which is why I haven't been blogging. I do have several things to blog about: bobcat, fender bender, yet another new pet, rope, ShareHim meetings we're right in the middle of, and much more. Maybe I'll have time to catch up on postings when The Man, M, and J go to Chile next month.
Hmmm...what shall I blog about? How about recent conversations heard in our house?
Sacagewea asked, "Can rocks melt?"
I replied, "Yes."
M added, "All the elements will melt with a fervent heat."
J said to Sacagewea, "Even you would melt if there was no oxygen and it got hot enough."
M concluded, "If there was no oxygen, melting would not be our biggest concern."
Nope, not much to blog about.
G is 12 weeks old now and weighs just over 11 pounds. If Mom or Dad is busy, he has 4 older siblings to care for every need...whether it be a clean diaper, a burp, or simply a shoulder upon which to fall asleep.
He even gets daily private concerts. Here he is with M practicing the left hand part of Bach's Invention No. 4 in d minor.
G enjoys the violin also, except he doesn't get held during those concerts.
S bought an add-on for the gerbil cage and an exercise ball for Gerald when we were up in the big city yesterday.
We thought this was the safest way to introduce Gerald to The Dog since The Dog likes disposing of Gerald's distant cousins. The Dog sniffed around the ball for a bit then he tried to pounce on it.
We think it is best if Gerald's future exercise sessions take place while The Dog is outside. Gerald agrees!
I don't think this revelation is truly blogworthy, but some folks seemed rather surprised by it, so here goes. G is now wearing cloth diapers. M wore them when he was a baby whenever we were at home. J, S and A wore them occasionally, mostly when the disposable stash was getting low and it didn't look like we would be able to make it to the store.
Since the nearest place to buy diapers is over the mountain (which isn't too far except in a snow storm), I decided that G would predominantly be in cloth diapers. I'm not a glutton for punishment, so I decided to wait until now when all of our holiday travels were over. Also, since the diaper bag stays in the vehicle for the most part, we'll do disposables when we venture out.
I still have all the cloth diapers I used with M and the others, so the only thing I needed was a few covers to replace some of the ones I had. Time isn't kind to elastic. I'm also using disposable at night until we get the new covers. Our old ones aren't reliable enough for long-term use.
I ordered this product * late Tuesday afternoon. I threw in another item so I would qualify for free shipping. Wow. It was sitting on my table Wednesday evening. That is blogworthy considering where we live. I don't think we have ever had a package delivered the next day without paying massive shipping charges. It took The Man less than five minutes to install it on our toilet. 
Why didn't they have these things when M was a baby? Please don't tell me they did and I just didn't know about it. I'll cry. No more dunking diapers for me!
G hasn't complained a bit about the switch to cloth. I think they make him look like a Weeble.
*This wasn't meant to be a commercial, but I do have a code that can save you $10 off any purchase of $49 or more. E mail me for details if you're interested.
Beavers are such industrious critters. I bet they wouldn't wait until a week before the deadline to start on their taxes. I just 
