The only thing I like to eat more than Jell-O is ICE CREAM!

Jessica over at Duck Duck Cow is having a giveaway for an ice cream maker and sundae kit.

By blogging about this, I get extra entries to win this, so even though I'm telling you all about this (or at least the two people who are still reading this blog after I haven't posted anything for such a long time) ( HEY! I've got like a jazillion kids! Like I actually have time to blog every day?) (Besides, LaMar found my stash of Mountain Dew in the storage room and made me get rid of it, so now I'm extra tired. It wasn't like I ever let the kids see me drink it!) please don't enter, because I really need to win the ice cream maker so that I can use it to distract my kids long enough to search for a new hiding place to stash all of the Mountain Dew that I'm going to buy the next time it goes on sale at Macy's.

So, go over and visit Jessica, and check out her blog. She has three adorable children and she makes the most amazing cakes! (Even if they aren't made out of Jell-O) Plus, she's cute as a button.

Illegal activity

Last night after all of the kids were in bed, I got a call from my sister. She and her husband will be flying in tomorrow to be here for Thanksgiving and the wedding.
As we were chatting, I thought I could smell smoke. I mentioned this to LaMar, and he looked around for a minute and couldn't find anything wrong.
I continued to talk to my sister, but every once in a while, I would get a whiff of that smell that you get after a candle has been blown out.
Again, I asked LaMar to investigate, but since he had already looked, he didn't want to look again so he told me that it was probably some weird pregnancy thing making my nose over active.
I finally finished talking to my sister, and went through the house myself.
The smell seemed stronger by the stairs, so I went upstairs and the smell was coming from the older boy's room.
I opened the door to see them looking out the open window, and holding a pop bottle.
They were lighting bottle rockets out of their bedroom window!
Naturally, I was quite upset! Fireworks are illegal in this state!
I asked them where they got the bottle rockets, and they wouldn't tell me.
They didn't need to tell me where they got them from, it was quite obvious.
The Simpson family has relatives in Wyoming, and they're constantly bringing this sort of contraband into our community.

I think I'll put the remaining bottle rockets in a big box and mail them right back to Wyoming.
I won't tolerate illegal behavior in our home!

Slippery slope

Yesterday afternoon something terrible happened.
The boys were all home from school, the dinner casserole was in the oven and I was starting to work on Sariah's wedding dress.
I needed my dress form which was in the storage room. As I got closer to the door, I could hear some muffled giggles from inside the storage room.
The boys know that they are not allowed to play in the storage room, so I was a little confused.
When I walked in, I was shocked at what I saw.
Jacob, Ammon and Malachi were sitting in a darkened corner of the storage room and they were drinking something from cans.


My heart stopped.


When I got closer, they tried to hide the cans from me, but it was too late. I already saw what they were drinking.



Mountain Dew.



I was furious! I knew exactly where they got them from, because I have my stash hidden there in the storage room behind the bags of rice.
I confiscated the cans and gave them a lecture on honesty and not taking things that they know don't belong to them, and why on earth were they snooping around in the storage room and when they find something that isn't theirs they should just leave it alone.
I then talked about how they KNOW very well that they aren't allowed to drink caffeinated beverages and it's bad for their growing bodies, then I made them dump the cans down the sink and sent them to clean out the garage.

I was so angry! I've hidden that Mountain Dew there so I can have some when I really need it. It's strictly for medicinal purposes only! The boys have never seen me drink it because I'm very discreet when I do and then I put the empty cans in the neighbor's recycle bin so nobody knows I drank any.

When LaMar got home, I informed him that the lesson for FHE would need to be changed to one about honesty, with a bonus discussion on the Word of Wisdom.
We had a really good discussion about those things in FHE and the boys apologized for doing something that they knew was wrong. All things were harmonious in our home again.
Later, after the kids all went to bed, I went to the storage room to get some canned fruit for tomorrows Jell-O and I looked behind the rice to see exactly how much of my Mountain Dew they had taken.
Imagine my shock when I saw that there wasn't any missing. It was all there!

The boys hadn't found my stash after all.
Then I was completely embarrassed. They must have been so confused about me lecturing them about honesty and not snooping through the storage room and taking things that don't belong to them................

Then I got to thinking. WHERE did they get the stuff? They must have bought it at the gas station down the road or the grocery store.
This really upsets me because I can't believe that they allowed my children to purchase such an item without the consent of an adult.

Today they let them buy Mountain Dew and then tomorrow, what?

Energy drinks?

Oh my!! They wouldn't allow children to buy energy drinks??

Would they?