Marshmallow toast

We did make it to Indianapolis to the children's museum, but that in itself is another post which is forthcoming. In the meantime, enjoy these pics of the kids enjoying a Denton family classic dessert - peanut butter and marshmallow toast! Believe it or not, I was able to relate the toast to a previous FHE lesson about Lehi's dream. The toast was the big field, the peanut butter the mists of darkness and the marshmallows the white fruit whose whiteness exceeded all whiteness and was very desirable to the taste. We also had chocolate milk which represented the river of dirty water... I know, a bit of a stretch, but it worked... Quinn really liked it (does that make him Nephi?), Aiden got bored after a while (actually, he liked it, but he was "full" when Will was done - Lemuel?), Will was absolutely adamant that he did not like the toasted marshmallows (Laman?), and Riley just looked at it funny. Just goes to show that you can lead kids to toasted marshmallow toast, but you can't make them eat it...

Spring Break Fun

So we haven't had much spring break fun. Our van that we had "repaired" in Memphis is back in the shop. We noticed it was leaking the week we got it back. The van has been in the shop since Monday! So I've been stuck at home with the kids. They actually don't mind it. Quinn loves staying in his pj's all day! Luckily, we got a warranty,so we don't have to pay anything. Unfortunately, because of the warranty we couldn't pick where took our van. The place where we had to take it is a very small shop. They can only work on two cars at a time! I don't think we thought the van would be back in the shop so soon. The shop here thought that the leak was near the bottom of the transmission and would be a quick fix. It turned out that the pump had to be replaced. This makes me wonder how well the shop in Memphis rebuilt our transmission. We should have been heading to Indy at this time. We are hoping to get the van back tonight, so that we can head up to the Children's Museum tomorrow morning. They have a Lego and a Star Wars: the Clone Wars exhibit. The kids and Doug are really excited about it. If you have transmission problems in Memphis, let us know and we'll tell yo where not to go!

Why are there so many songs about rainbows?

Because they are really cool! I shot this on my camera phone outside of Louisville, KY a week or two ago (which is not easy to do while driving). I should have posted them on St. Patty's day, but I was too busy. Quinn asked if I found the pot of gold at the end - sure would have been nice considering our recent car woes. A few minutes after I shot these, I turned a corner and saw the other end, but the top was still covered by clouds. It is always a really neat experience to see full rainbows - I am surprised that they don't cause more traffic accidents!

Construction Zone!

Doug has been helping with a start up for work in Columbus, Ohio. The warehouse is still under construction so he has to wear a hard hat all day! He came home for the weekend and brought his hard hat. The kids were excited to try it on. Unfortunately, Doug had to go back today for the week. We were able to get the van back on Saturday. Denise and Donna drove it to Union City and we met them there. The kids were excited to spend time with them while we ate lunch. I'm sure Megan and my sister are glad to get their van back. Poor Doug spent most of the weekend driving!

It must be an unwritten rule...

It must be an unwritten rule that as soon as you pay off your car it has major problems! We went to Memphis this weekend for our nephew Chandler's baptism. On the way to Doug's sisters' house after the baptism our van started acting funny. We pulled over into a church parking lot and tried calling members of Doug's family. Almost everyone still had their phones off. (How did we survive before cell phones?) While we were trying to make phone calls a family that was at the baptism pulled over to see if we need help. We used to be in the same ward as Chandler's family, so we knew this family. They ended up calling someone else that had been at the baptism that is good with cars (I guess). He and four of his five very well-behaved kids came to help us. Doug finally got in touch with Amy and Grant. Then two of Doug's sisters and a brother-in-law came to get us. All the men were in agreement that the problem was with the transmission. They were correct. Our transmission has to be rebuilt! Doug and Travis got the van back to Denise and Donna's. Today, Doug's dad had it towed to a repair shop. We were worried about how and when we would get back home! Luckily, my sister only has three kids at home right now and unfortunatly her husband is in Afganistan, so she didn't need her van. The van has become my niece Megan's car. When we asked Megan if we could borrow it for the week, she just shrugged her shoulders and said "sure" and acted like it was no big deal. I would like to think at 16 that I would give up my car for a week that easily. But I really don't think I would have. I'm not sure what we would have done if we couldn't have used my sister's van. Doug had to be back for work and Quinn has to go to school. Plus, I'm helping with the Spring Fair at Quinn's school. We have to get my sister's van back to her by Saturday, so we are really praying that our van is repaired by then. We are grateful for all the help we got, even from members of our old ward, that we moved out of almost 7 years ago!

Poison Control

So we made our first call to poison control. I'm amazed we haven't had to call sooner. Luckily, none of the boys put stuff in their mouth much. Riley is a different story. That or in my old age I just don't keep up with her as well as I did the boys. I was trying to make dinner (that's a whole different story), Doug was playing Wii, and the boys were bugging me about dinner. Riley was washing her hands. All of our kids have gone through a phase of playing in the sink. As long as they don't make a mess we choose not to make a big deal about it. Well Riley found the hand soap. Doug went to check on her and her chin was soapy and her breath smelled like soap. We weren't sure if she ate any or not. Doug read the back of the soap container and it said "if ingested call poison control". Well we did, after we searched for the number for a few minutes. Apparently with soap the worst thing that can happen is that they get naseous and throw-up. We realized after the call that she porbably didn't swallow any. She did get some in her eyes though and they were very red and puffy. I guess we need to keep a better eye on her. She is keeping me on my toes!