Patrick Joe

Patrick is the third child and he is most like Mike. He is super funny and sweet. He loves to play with Kenny. The boys, Jon and Patrick, had Adam's blue lightening McQueen toy but they couldn't figure out how to get the wings to come out- no way were they going to ask a five year old.

It's raining!

Mike, Kenny and I went on a walk. It was pretty cloudy... then the rain came down and Kenny didn't know what hit him. We walked as quickly as we could back home and took a picture for the blog.

Cinderkelly

The dining room floor was a mess. Patrick swept, but little Kelly Cinderella had to wash the floor.

Life's a Peach

Maria asked me the other night if I wanted some peaches from their backyard. I said sure- I could jar them up. So we went over there today and got about 40 pounds of peaches.

Megan, Mike and I washed, peeled, lemoned, jarred, syruped and then pressure cooked for 10 minutes at 10lb pressure the peaches. The kitchen was hot. The sad thing is that it took 2 1/2 hours (or 7 man, woman , child hours) to jar them and it will take 10 minutes each quart to eat them. (If that long.)

First day of Kindergarten

Adam was ready to go to school! Some of the children were crying and a lot of moms were too. I know he's going to have a great time. Everyone will know and love him because he is so fun. Watch out Mrs. Whetherbie and Mrs. Smith!

One foot two foot red foot blue foot

I had to go to the DMV today to register the minivan before the end of the month (avoiding the $10 late fee.) Mary said she couldn't find her shoes. We found one on the shoe shelf and could not find the other. Worse was that I threw away her crocs because they were cutting her ankles when she wore them. So, up in a cupboard Mike found an old Spiderman tennis shoe- just one. Luckily it was the right foot ( she had her left foot sandal.) I wanted to cry- here comes white trash with a child with two different shoes.

With a heavy heart we got buckled in the car and Adam yelled, "I won the contest!" What contest I said. I found the other shoe! Hooray for Adam. Mary and I were saved!

Who smells?

Adam told me he needed a bath today because he smells like garbage. Kelly gave him and Dotes a bath tonight. Adam has his first day of school tomorrow! I hope he doesn't smell like garbage at kindergarten.

Boy Scouts

It was court of honor for the boy scouts tonight. Jonathan received three merit badges and some patches for boy scout camp. Hooray for Jon!

Kenny likes the park

Kenny and Kelly come down the slides at the park near our house.

Look how cute I am

I went to a presidency meeting this morning and left Kenny, Mary and Adam at home with Mike. He said that he forgot about Kenny and couldn't find him. After looking he found him up both staircases sitting in Megan's room in front of her mirror. He was adoring himself.

He's on the move

Kenny has decided at 7 months to start thinking about walking pretty seriously. Oh dear. Jon says he wants to break the walking record, nine months, held by Jon.

Tradition

The first day of school! The tradition is to get your picture in front of the mailbox. Everybody was up by 6:30 am, it was a long wait until 7:45 am.

August home teaching

Our home teacher, Woody Woodland, took this photo of the family. We are all listening carefully to our monthly lesson as 9 Malm ducks sit on one couch.

Crib walker

Around 3 am this morning the baby Kenny was making all this racket in his crib which is in my room. I got up and made him a bottle and went back to bed. A while later I heard Mike standing by the crib telling him it wasn't the time to practice walking in his crib. Just what I need a 7 month old baby walker. This picture is from the other day when he was actually sleeping and sucking in his bottle. (I hope his dentist doesn't see this.)

Sacrifice

I gave a talk at church this morning. I have stressed about it all this week. My topic was Sacrifice. I wrote a talk and felt okay about it on Wednesday. I went to bed that night and it came to my mind what I was suppose to say in the talk. I felt very inspired. It then took a few days to get the ideas on paper. I felt it went fine.
During the Sacrament meeting I was sitting on the stand and saw Kenny going through the ladies purse behind him. I had to signal Mike to get Kenny. At one point a lady I've never seen was walking him around. It looked like it was chaos at the Malm row today.

Helpfulness

Megan, 11, nicely asked everyone if they had anything that needed to be ironed. Jonathan had a white shirt, Kelly had a pink dress, I submitted my dress for Sunday and Adam wanted his spiderman suit pressed. I guess Mary didn't need hers ironed.

School days

Adam went to meet his teacher this afternoon. He was very excited and asked the kindergarten teacher where his locker was.

Megan had her first day of school today. She was tired but likes middle school so far.

The Ark

The whole crew in the minivan.

Time for Scriptures

Mike was studying his scriptures when Mary walked by. She saw him and went and got herself some scriptures (Spanish edition) and began to study too.

Water Park Fun

Kenny

Patrick

Megan
Adam


Jonathan
Kelly and Mary

Summer is coming to an end so we went to the water park today. Kenny thought he would crawl right over to the water and splash it up. He didn't take into account how cold the water would be. Jon and Patrick kept trying to get their shoes to fly in the water streams. Mary tried to run off with some other kids' toys. (Patrick ran it back to him before he told his mom!) Adam wants a water park in his backyard- except bath tub temperatures. Megan took most of the good photos, thanks Meg. Kelly didn't want to leave and had to run to the van before we left her to live with the mermaids. We all had fun splashing around.

Pick a Job

At least once a day, the children get assigned a job. Today, Patrick washed the kitchen cupboard fronts and mopped the kitchen floor, Jon swept and mopped the dining/living room, Megan sort and put away laundry, and Kelly cleaned the kids bathroom and washed the glass on the family room doors.

I don't typically pay for pick-a-jobs except that they "get to live here." Adam turned 5 in July so he is in pick-a-job training. I cannot set him loose on the kitchen or bathrooms. Right now he is learning to sweep and pick up stuff. The kids say, "Poor Kenny, he'll have to do all the jobs when everyone grows up!"

Jane Eyre

I just finished reading the book for September's book club, this afternoon. I have been plugging away at Jane Eyre for about a week now. I usually can read a book in less than 24 hours. Jane has 450 pages- comparable to Harry Potter and I read those over night.

I have found myself saying words like propensity, coquettish, greatly admired and chafed. Hopefully not in relation to changing Kenny's diaper, but a little weird. This book was a slow read because of all the old language and the footnotes that I had to look up while reading- to find out that this phrase was an allusion to Christ hanging on the cross or the blatant use of french that needed to be deciphered because I don't speak french.

Megan and I watched the movie before I read the book- and as usual they slaughtered the book. I was a little worried when I was on page 120 in the book and the movie portrayal was almost over. It will be interesting to see what the other ladies thought of this old fashioned book. I definitely want Megan to plough through it. Will she shun the ideas, avoid fluctuations of feeling, and continual combats with recollections and associations? I shall watch her countenance. I am inquisitive. I shall yield now.

Foot massages gone crazy

It was a crazy family home evening game. Mike thought of rubbing his feet. But after 30 seconds of rubbing his feet- they all wanted to have their feet rubbed, especially Dotsie. Then they bombarded me- and well, I'm ticklish on my feet. I don't know if anyone washed their hands before the ice-cream treat- oh well.

Kenny time

Kenny sitting in the family room.

Kenny wants to come to the kitchen.

Kenny splashing it up in his bath.

Kenneth is 7 months old and soooo cute.

Jim's Birthday Party

We went to a restaurant down town called Nine 75. It was Jim's 40th surprise party. He was definitely surprised- he told Chrystal on the way to the party that he wanted to go somewhere else. Too funny.

This is the dress that my mom made me earlier this week. It is really shiny and pretty. These are my brothers Chris (in the middle) and Birthday boy Jim (on the end).

Earlier in the day that we were blanching and freezing all the corn that we have not been able to eat lately. I had the kids shuck the corn yesterday. They were so excited to given that job. Mike and I figured no one else that came to the party probably didn't freeze corn before they came. Below is the few who braved to pick, shuck and put the husks in stinky compost bucket. (Back row: Patrick, Kelly, Megan, Second row: Adam, Mary Jane.)

Locker designer mom

It was Megan's day to check-in to middle school. We went through the lines, turned in our forms, and paid our fees. We went to her locker to put her stuff in and then went to find her classrooms. While walking her schedule we saw a girl decorating her locker with wrapping paper, pink wrapping paper. We looked at each other and knew we wanted wrapping paper too.

So we went to Safeway purchased some hot pink wrapping paper, scissors, tape and some more magnets. We drove back to the school and started installing the "wall" paper. Others girls walked by and asked their moms if they could do this to their lockers. Jonathan said he would only let us do it if it looked exactly like the inside of his locker.

I felt like the coolest mom ever.

Look at that melon

Nothing better to come home to a huge watermelon on your door step. We belong to a CSA, community supported agriculture, and a couple of us trade off going to pick up the produce. Yesterday was Margie's day. I wasn't home so she left it on the porch.

We found Monroe Organic Farms from a friend of a friend. We buy a share of their farm and weekly throughout June, July, August, September and a week or two into October we receive the harvest. Yesterday's bounty was 6 anaheim peppers, 40pieces of corn, 8 different types of squash, 2 watermelon, 2 muskmelon, 12 tomatillos, 5 vine ripened tomatoes, 6 onions, 4 garlic, tons of beets (yuck) and some eggplant. I made a tomatillo chicken dish for lunch for tomorrow, so the flavors can meld before I serve it on rice.

Pecked to death

The kids had their own agendas today- I need to go here, want to go there etc... School starts in two weeks, the little ones left at home usually don't mind doing what they do around me or around the house. Sigh... then of course there will be homework. Oh well.

Dress making

It was all about me today. My mom is always making my girls beautiful dresses and skirts. She always made me dresses when I was younger- even my wedding dress and then the focus went to my children once they were born. I have thought it is wonderful to see my girls twirling around in their dresses that I would not have been able to afford if my mom had not sewn them. But, today was my day. We went to Hobby Lobby and bought material and stuff and went to her house and she fitted the dress as she sewed. When I left she just had the sleeves and the hem to put in. It is really pretty.

My girls- 11, 7 and 3 want some matching dresses made with the extra material. I didn't believe my 11 year-old daughter at first- "You would want to match me and the younger girls?" She said with a rousing "Yes, I would." Wait to see us at a pew near you.

Picture: Megan and Kelly in the graduation dresses that Nana made in May.

Sunday

Sundays are so tiring. It doesn't help with Kenny waking every three hours last night. By 5 am I had had enough. Mike took the baby and changed him and rocked him. It can be challenging.

Yet, in Relief Society we had a lesson about death. We talked about Mathew 5 where it says Blessed are those that mourn. How can we be happy or grateful for death? Last year when I was pregnant with Kenny it looked most likely he had trisomy 18. With this genetic problem he would not live through the pregnancy or would die a few hours after birth. I felt so grateful when he was born healthy. I could see the other side so clearly- baby dead, blessed to mourn. I had a miscarriage before Kenny. I was at the 20 week ultrasound excited to find out if we were having a boy or a girl and then I saw a baby not moving just floating in there. I didn't feel to mournful just a little numb. I do feel blessed that I know that I will be able to raise that baby in the millenium. I know that we will see our brothers and sisters that have passed through the veil. Sister Quillen gave the lesson and said that death is to remind us there is a plan of salvation. It's always good to go to church and feel the spirit and learn.

We came home, ate some left over soup and stir fry and took naps. Hopefully Kenny will sleep tonight. I'm so glad he's here.

Hula Lula

We went to the ward dinner tonight. It was a luau at the stake center. The achievement day girls (girls 8-11) danced to the Lilo and Stitch Roller Coaster ride music. Sister Maualaivao taught the girls the Tongan dance. The Maualaivao daughters and their cousins came and did a show (besides the girls). We had BBQ beef sandwiches, salads, and desserts. I brought my famous pineapple cake.

I went to Goodwill last night to get Hawaiian shirts- even a little one for Kenny. I went to Wal-Mart this morning and got some material for the mumus. It took an hour or so to figure out how to take material and make a dress without sewing. So three safety pins and some scissors and tadah. I really need to learn how to use my serger so the strings wouldn't have been hanging by the end of the evening.

Food Room

Mike's new idea is to move each of the children's food storage to their rooms to make space for more down in the basement. I think this is a great idea. According to provident living, a food storage calculator, a certain amount of grains and rice for a basic storage per person. By sticking in each room we can first tell if we have enough for 9 people and we can rotate it by month one take out the food from Jon's room and replace with new and so forth. If there was an emergency or job loss or such I think we would eat more of it but it gives us a goal.

That is Adam- all his and Kenny's hasn't been moved to his closet. The top of his closet has Kenny's year supply of diapers and wipers that I bought from Amazon.com- should have seen the porch the day UPS delivered all those.

I would love it if there was a site where people would post what their food supply looks like in their houses. It would give ideas of stuff to store or ways to do it or that sort of thing. Here is a look beyond the boxes of grains. Above the shelves are boxes with stuff like ketchup that would not fit on the shelves. Water boxes from Emegency Essentials are below. Stuff like toilet paper I put in the cabinets in the bathrooms and laundry detergent I keep a year supply above the washer.
One of the really good ideas Mike had was to fill our Mason/Kerr jars that were empty with water. We were storing them anyways might as well have some quarts of drinking water.

7x7

My brother Chris borrowed some camping stuff for the weekend. When he was here Jonathan told him that when the Malmkids moved out, they would definitely send their kids back to me (Grandma). Chris said that would be like 7x7= 49 grandkids. I decided it would be like this:

1. Jonathan's 7 little ones would all have red hair (like him) run around reciting PI (like he does) and would be solving their Rubicks' cubes (I know what to get them for Christmas).

2. Megan's 7 little ones would pester me to do jobs (Granny can I clean the kitchen? oh dear if you must), they would play instruments and read lots and lots of books (I know what to get them for Christmas.)

3. Patrick's 7 will be playing jokes on all the other kids, will make use of the squirt guns they bring, will make much music with their armpit farting, legpit farting and earfarting, and will eat lots of candy. (Toothbrushes for Christmas?)

4. Kelly's little olive-skinned darlings will constantly ask to go on many walks with Mike, boss everyone and everything around and quote Hannah Montana episodes, they will probably all be tattle tales, (but, Gran, it's not tattling if it is the truth! they will cry.)

5. Adam's children will all have different super hero suits on. We'll have to watch out for the one in the villian suit.

6. Mary Dotes children will cover their faces whenever anyone looks at them. They'll constantly yell to eat "CEREAL" and only give in if they get to play with bubbles or puzzles. They all will probably be vegetarians.

7. Kenneth's, hmmm, all of them bald, chubby and quick to smile. They will keep everyone up during the night and expect everyone to be quiet while they sleep during the day.