Grayson playing in the lockers at the YMCA

Grayson at the Library

Grayson LOVES playing games on the computer at the Library!

My funny Valentine...

Valentine pancakes with cherry syrup, heart shaped sausages & heart shaped eggs...for each of my four valentines...breakfast in bed!

Night Out for mom & dad

Dave & I went to dinner at the Ives last night for an authentic chinese dinner they cooked themselves. It was delicious! They lived in China for a few years and recently updated their kitchen to include a huge wok stove.

Then we headed to the Sweetheart Dance at the church. We had a lot of fun, especially when we were doing the new dance moves we made up called the "Nursing Home Shuffle". They did play a wide variety of music but for awhile they got stuck on old old slooow music. I would have loved some happening 50's music and I did put in a request for some 70's music (Disco). We got the YMCA from that request!

All in all we had alot of fun and it reminded us that we need to go out more often!

When we got home we tiptoed inside - not to wake anyone, only to find our 14yr old & 2 yr old still up at 11pm. At 12:30am Grayson came & turned our bedroom light on (cause we had snuck into bed hoping to go unnoticed...riiight). Jasmyn said she tried everything to get him to sleep.

Headaches...

Yay! Taxes are done - well the families at least. I still have to pay Wa State Sales & B&O taxes, which I'll do on Monday. Tax day always gives me a headache!

Speaking of headaches-Grayson accidentally flushed his underwear down the toilet a few days ago. Here's what happened- He was sick & he had to fart...well...it came out gooshy. So, while I was hosing him off in the shower, I hung his undies in the toilet (held down by the toilet seat) to get the excess off his underwear. Well, in the process of getting him dressed he was hungry so I ran downstairs to fix him something to eat...forgetting all about the underwear in the toilet...and apparently his bladder needed emptying during this time. Well, it didn't dawn on me until later in the day when I spied a fresh poo in the toilet that the underwear were missing. After an unsuccessful flush, my fears were realized - the underwear were somewhere in the pipes! We bought a toilet snake & that proved unsuccessful, next step take out toilet

Peanut Butter Choco Chip Pancakes w/PB Syrup...mmm...mmm...good!

So, everyone in my family knows I like to experiment when I am cooking. Sometimes it turns out good & sometimes not so good! And I always try to sneak veggies or fruit or something healthy in to whatever I'm making (Ethan is an anti-vegetarian, so its the only way to get anything healthy into him).

So, today I decided to make pancakes for dinner (yes, I said DINNER). We LOVE peanut butter in our house so I experimented a little. I added peanut butter, dark chocolate pb, flaxseed meal, a banana, quick oats & a handful of PB chips & Chocolate chips to my pancake mix. Then I made Peanut Butter Syrup to go on top! Oh, so yummy! They were a big hit with the family! Next time I am going to sneek in some pureed squash into them as well!

Ethan funny

Jasmyn was being silly & walking all retarded like & she says "why's dad lookin at me all funny?" and Ethan says "cause your a black woman living in a house full of white people!" It was hilarious! Jasmyn wanted me to post it to facebook.

www.TheVanCleaveFive.blogspot.com

I got for FREE $1,081.50 in Brand new-the tags still on-Dresses, Shirts & Skirts for Jasmyn at the Clothing Exchange yesterday! That doesn't include the Nike & Sketcher shoes that were like new that I got for all 3 kids (for free) and the coats and like new clothes for me & the boys! Oh Yeah!

Most of the new clothes Jasmyn got were Coldwater Creek brand. She says "Never heard of it", which is funny cause the company is located in Sandpoint.

Hamster Babies

Baby Russian Dwarf Hamsters - 2 days oldDoes anyone else see what looks like an itsy bitsy dead baby in the right hand corner of the above photo? So, maybe she had more than 6 babies...

Momma Hamster - Hammi, she's about 4 1/2 months old. Isn't she cute?

Happy Birthday Jasmyn!

Jasmyn, I can't believe its been 14 years since I had you! You have become such a beautiful and strong young woman. I am so proud of you. You have faced much adversity in your young life, yet you have chosen to rise above it and not wallow in it. You are so talented and I am proud of you for choosing to expand on those talents and share them with others.

You are a kind and caring friend and someone your friends (and brothers) can look up too. You are always willing to help out a friend in need, even though not always willing to keep your room clean! :)

It seems just like yesterday that you were making a mess...wait it was yesterday! No, just kidding! It seems like just yesterday that you were climbing all over everything, carrying around baby dolls, learning to rollerskate, ride your bike and learning to read.

Your biggest wish when you were 5 years old was for a baby brother - that one came true! Then you couldn't wait to wear make-up and now you can't wait to get a job and high school is right around the corner!

Soon you'll be driving - scary! :)

I love you and am very proud of you. You are a beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father and I hope you always remember that! Love, mom

Baby hamster

Baby hamster stranded on its back...not a day old yet

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