Arrrrrrrr....new favorite game

Sophia's birthparents brought us this game a couple weeks ago-Life "The Pirates of the Caribbean" edition. We have had so much fun with it!! We played it everyday when they were here and then we found the pirate

paraphernalia (not sure if that is the right use of that word but it sounds good;)) at the Dollar Tree so we had to buy it for when we play the game!! If you are looking for a fun family game check this one out!!

why is the cup so big???

You know what this is?? The measuring cup from laundry detergent. I have always just thrown in a full scoop ignoring the lines. I knew the bottom line was for smaller loads and I hardly ever have a small load so I never bothered to investigate the other line. Well I actually stopped and read the directions on the box the other day. I have been mindlessly throwing in too much soap for YEARS! Then I wondered why oh why do they make the cup so large if you only need to fill it up to the 2nd line to wash a load of clothes??!!!! Oh well...now maybe I won't run out of soap so fast!

fyi.....I bought a 180 load box of Gain from Sam's 9-11-07 and it lasted us until 11-29-07...would have lasted longer if I had measured right! not sure how cost effective it is to buy that large a box but it was nice not to run out so fast!

Grampie Photo Shoot 11-07

Every time we visit Grampie loves to take pictures...especially after church before we change out of our nice clothes! This has been something we have grown accustomed to....well almost. He has gotten fancy enough to have created this white backdrop that he hangs from the windows(a bedsheet). Then it usually takes him a while to figure out what setting he wants his camera on and so this can take longer than we like:) This time though we were pretty patient and Nate even smiled in the pictures!! Grampie did tell Granny "we need to invest in some good lighting" so I wonder if the next time we visit he will not only hang up the sheet...I mean backdrop... but pull out some of those professional lights that photographers use! (ps. these pics were taken with my camera from the side while Grampie was fidgeting with his;)

Fia the snake hunter

Look what we found when we came home from our trip to Alabama--Fia wrestled this king cobra to the ground and saved us all!! Just teasing...this was one of those "soak and grow" animals. I forgot how many inches it was when she bought it but it sure did grow 4 times its size like the package said!! It is pretty gross looking....she is the only one who would touch it!

Let the giving begin!

When we got home from Alabama tonight Richard decided to get the Christmas tree out from the attic. The kids helped put it up which got Sophia is the "gifting" mood.....so she pulls Nate off the the side and whispers something in his ear. Then they dissappear into his bedroom and about 30 minutes later out they come with these gifts for Richard and I. Very cute to hear/see them working together...undercover:)

Sophia's love language is gift-giving so here she is expressing her love to her Mom and Dad by wrapping up some gifts to go under the Christmas Tree. (the gifts come from their rooms;))

New Villamor

This is the hamster that Richard and the kids bought to replace Sammy the gerbil. He is wild and likes to bite but the person who sold him to us said he would get use to us....but we are all afraid to be the one who tames him! We have used a work glove to try and get him out but it is just too big. He isn't as skittish as the gerbil and I feel like he will tame prettily easily....I just don't want to get bit!! ha! He is cute but oh how I miss that sweet gerbil!




I told the preschool kids about Sammy not being with us anymore and they didn't have anymore questions(which was great!) . I asked if his name should just be Sammy also and 2 said yes and 2 said his name should be "Sammers" which I kinda like too.

72 Hour Kits

FINALLY....well almost:)

We finally had a evening to change out our 72 hour kits. I bought the food 3 weeks ago and was going to do it myself but wanted to involve everyone in the fun but other stuff(like watching movies;)) kept getting in the way. But I got so tired of looking at the food and having the bags in my room that I took advantage of our lazy Saturday evening to assemble the kits.

I decided to do ours a little different than the ones that are put together in a orange juice carton for a couple reasons-give us more food and more food choices. So I made up a menu that consisted of food my family would want to eat on a regular basis because in a time of stress trying out new foods will not be fun! Although vienna sausages are on our menu --I think i might change that next time....I could eat those in an emergency....but if there was something else....

Our menu consisted of these items:

breakfast-poptarts, granola bars and fruit

lunches-canned soups, chilis or stews, ravoli, etc....anything in a can that is fully cooked and preferrably with a pop-top, fruit cups

dinners-tuna, soups, beef jerkey, gummies

cheese/peanut butter crackers were also added to the lunches and dinners. Also a little bag of candy was added each day.

I started this system in April with the idea of rotating the food every 6 months (around conference time) and I learned some things when I tried all the food......

*Do not divide up the beef jerkey into individual portions. It gets very hard and uneatable(couldn't think of the other word;)) I just kept it in the bag it came in and wrote on the outside what meals/days we were to eat it.

*Peanuts also do not need to be put into individual plastic bags because they get soft and taste like plastic! yuck!

*The crackers started to taste stale but in an emergency they would be OK. If you are rotating this stuff every 6 months then it should be alright.

We have a lot more food than we need since most soup cans have 2 servings in each one but I know if we are in an emergency we can share with others so that is alright. I packed one change of clothes for each of us along with some toiletries. Our first aid kit is kept in the hall linen closet and I hope I have the frame of mind to grab that also....that is the idea anyway. Maybe I should add some basic first aid stuff to it in case I dont' think of that. Oh....and I need to get some water to store in the closet with the kits and then we should be good. So until next April!

Now I need to work on my 3 month supply of food and make sure my flashlights have batteries!

What do you do with a scurvy pirate?

Make him walk the plank!

Nate got this eye patch from the treasure box from school. He loved wearing it out in public which suprised us all! He is so funny....still not use to smiling for pictures though. Arrrrrr!

RIP Sammy the gerbil

Sammy the gerbil-this is the best picture we have of him


Just hanging out on top of his house

Nate decorated Sammy's "coffin" this morning with markers. He drew the circle to represent the wheel Sammy loved to run on.

He also put our initials around his name because we all loved him!

We got Sammy to be the class pet for my preschool children but we all grew very attached to the little guy. Below is the email I sent to the parents:

Just wanted to let you know that Sammy died this morning. I wanted to tell you about it in an email instead of in front of your child. I am not going to tell them the details of his ...death(hate that word!).... and hopefully they won't ask:)

He got out of his cage last night(Sophia and Nate forget to close it after playing with him so he escaped). Sophia noticed he was in her room this morning. FOr about 20 minutes we tried to catch him while he crawled in and out from under her bed and then in her closet and behind her bookshelf....it was probably hilarious to watch 4 people chasing a small gerbil around her room!!

Then I thought I could trap him with an empty box and then somehow scoop him up in the box.....well I did trap him but he wasn't totally underneath the box. Half of his body was under the box and the other half out....so I squished him in half :(. He died seconds later so we think he didn't suffer. It has been a very sad morning for all of us especially Fia and Nate. It is funny how attached you can get to a little rodent like that! Richard buried him and then they went to Petco to get a replacement. We now have a dwarf hamster that is brown and white. I will show him to the children on Tuesday and just talk about how "Sammy" is with Jesus now and how we get to have a new class pet. Not sure if we should pick a new name or just let this one be Sammy also....any thoughts on that?

One parent has already responded and said to let the children decide what his name should be-Sammy or something new. I will post new pictures of the hamster and his name next week:)

the Boy Wonder

Nate said he wanted to be "Robin" -Batman's trusty sidekick. I was a little suprised because he has Batman stuff but nothing Robin. He must have seen it on TV or somewhere but whatever makes you happy Nate!! After a search on Ebay I found this costume for him. He approved but I was unsure that he would even wear it out of the house on Halloween. This is usually what would happen with Nate-he would get something new but be to anxious to wear it out for fear of the attention it would bring to him. I was happy to get the costume for him since it was cheap and what he wanted. I knew he would enjoy it at home at least even if it didn't go out on Oct. 31st with him to get candy! When it first arrived I excitedly showed him the package and he smiled and then started crying. He said "but I don't want anyone to see it". I assured him he didn't have to wear it out if he didn't want to. Part of me wished I hadn't bought it but then he would wear parts of the costume around the house and be so happy to have it that it made the purchase worth it. Oct. 30th we had a party at church where we were to dress in our costumes. Nate said he didn't want to dress up-no shock at all. But to all of our suprise the night of Trick-or-Treating he put it on with no anxiety! He seemed excited to have it on and even let me get some pictures....but as he has told us before "I am not use to smiling" so that is why he looks so serious in the pictures.....or maybe it was because he was really feeling like "Robin-the Boy Wonder" and was getting a call from Batman that an evil villian was loose in the neighborhood and he needed to bring the batmobile around so they could go fight-or something:) Everyone that knows Nate was so shocked to see him in his costume and can't believe how far he has come. He is definately our "Boy Wonder" and we love him SOOO much!



Fia (a.k.a. Hannah Montana) makig it look like Nate is flying

duh........i is the boy wonder
Oh....and remember the post about him wishing for straight hair??? If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see where he has wet his hair in an effort to straighten it. i believe this whole "i want my hair straight" business came from him wanting to be just exactly like Robin right down to his hair!

let's go Batman! I'll drive this time!