No Capes!

Tim learned why Edna was so clear on "No capes!" with her superhero designs.

He put on his relatively new apron from Maggie's birthday party, turned it backwards, and went out to ride his bike.

The inevitable happened. The cape got tangled in the back wheel yanking him backward by the neck with the same force of a Hulk Hogan clothesline (yes, that is a reference to a 1980's wrestler thank you very much).

It did not celestialize him, so we just had to dry his tears and trash the cape.



Yea for helmets. Is it sad that this was his second one?

Red Dawn

Are you prepared for the (not-going-to-happen) invasion of the United States?

Weapons and Ammo?
Well, we have more than dirty diapers.

Food?
Check.

US Amateur radio licenses?
Check.

That's right, we both are now certified amateur radio operators.

We're ready for red dawn, except that we now need a tank.

Hotel Girl's Camp

For this year's Father and Son camp out, we did not go camping. We went to the Church girl's "camp". Really, it was more like going to a cabin than camping. Flushing toilets, potted water, tp instead of leaves... all the stuff that makes camping manly had been neutered.

We had been told that there were mattresses on the plywood bunks...



So, in a way we had to rough it.

Tim and I enjoyed a couple hour hike with the Smith's after some delicious Blimpie sandwiches.



Oh, and there was snow, in May.

Since I could not sleep, I got up early and started the campfire, without matches a lighter, or other starter device! (Okay, so some of the ashes were still warm, but it was more manly than the lighter fluid deacon method.)



Tim had a blast, so the trip was a massive success.

Please do not tell child protective services

I hope my bro gets his doctorate soon, because I think we're going to therapy...

1) Ami has decided that oatmeal tastes best... plain. Straight from the pack or the barrel. She eats it with a spoon. No water, no milk, just plain... sometimes microwaved.

2) Maggie determined that she was going to teach herself how to fast. So she hid from breakfast Friday morning. We were so busy we did not notice until she informed us the next day that she had learned how to fast by not eating. Oh the conversations that followed...

3) Tim has his dad's super sniffer, so he likes things to smell good; including himself. He will go into Mom's closet and grab her body sprays and unleash an affront to manliness by spritz-festing himself. If mom and him give dad a hug at the same time, he smells better. "Dangit Tim, you're not supposed to use those", "But now I smell goodly".

4) Susanna has shoulder rolls! YES! Best. Fat. Child of ours. Ever.

Bountiful Baskets

Wow! We started participating in the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op. We are intrigued and excited at the quality, variety, benefits to local farmers, and cost of it all. Every week is different fruits and veggies, according to what is in season and available from the local farms (Mexico to Washington as I understand it). Our pick-up point is 6 miles round-trip so gas mileage is hardly an issue. Our basket weighed in at 42# this week. We spent $27 which included our first-time fee of $3 and a handling or tax of $1.50. We chose the basic basket for the constant $15 and an Italian pack to go along with it this week.


Here's the 50% fruit--bananas, apples, watermelon, tomatoes, champagne mangoes, and tangelos(?).


Here's the 50% veggies-Spinach, 5 ears of corn, lots of peppers, Romaine lettuce, and green cauliflower.


Here is the Italian Pack ingredients-lots of herbs (I need to identify them!), garlic, onions, zucchini, and eggplant.

The co-op is available in various parts of Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and Washington. We're loving it! And when we volunteer on Saturday mornings to sort and divide all the ingredients, we take home extras. Check it out at www.bountifulbaskets.org.

Maybe I'll post pictures of the nutritious and scrumptious meals I make with it now. (I'll have to check the site for recipes because some of this stuff is very new to my house. The zucchini will likely go into pancakes, though. The children LOVE them!)

FORTUNatE...

Happy 8th anniversary!

Family Game

After having a Sunday lesson it was time for a family game. We went for Risk. Tim eliminated himself early, though his sound effects were the best.

Maggie dominated Melissa, and then David eliminated her completely.

Then Maggie started to roll nothing but high numbers. This picture represents about how David felt after having lost triple the people over a period of two turns when he was attacking.



Maggie put up a valiant fight, but it the end, met an army of zombies from Africa and Brittian which took her down.

Susanna enjoyed the show.

Rum-pa-pum-pum

While Grandpa was out and about in our neighborhood, he came upon a yard sale. His find has brought great laughs, fun and creativity. We've had no headaches, yet, possibly because I'm so excited to be playing it myself that the children banging on it is almost music to my ears.

Set up is as close as we can figure out to being right.


Tim drums a beat.


One of the delightful laughs.


Ami bouncing while Tim drums. (Notice the knit winter gloves on her feet? Those make them "Monkey Feet." Really quite a funny play time around here.)