COOKIE DAY

Aaron and I had a good time baking cookies today, though it is a toss-up whether his "help" was beneficial. Anyway, he had good time and I guess that is what really counts. He was excited to help and I was a little less excited about his declaration. He saw me rolling up cookies with my hands and decided that was what he would like to do. He immediately went to wash his hands. Now that is a good thing. This is an almost-nine-year-old boy who knows that he must wash up before he cooks!!!! Soon he was back but was in such a hurry that he hadn't dried his hands all that well and was finishing the job on his sweats. I had to tell him that wouldn't fly in this household... so he had to do it all over again... wash and dry his hands once more! He was happy rolling cookie dough into balls and then rolling those in sugar. He even tried his hand at rolling dough with a rolling pin for the sugar cookies. We could actually tell which cookies he had made when they came out of the oven. His had extra sugar on the outside. That's my boy!

11 YEARS OLD

Amazing how fast time flies. We celebrated Heath's 11th birthday Tuesday evening as a Monday celebration was out of the question. I hope the next 11 years do not go as fast - but I am sure they will - maybe even faster. Here are just a few shots of a happy Heath.

The first picture was one of happy relief. Aaron and I had gone to Joplin for his orthodontic consultation, so while we were there we picked up the cake. When we got home, we told Heath we had forgotten to get his cake. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy with us at that point but that turned around when he walked in and saw it sitting on the table. And I was really, really glad we hadn't forgotten it. The cake was Monsters vs. Aliens.... and I tried to convince him otherwise. I didn't win - wasn't my birthday.

Some of the pictures show yellow marks on his cheek. I didn't see them until I was well into taking pictures. I wondered where he had gotten them, but marked it down to school activities. Later, after he gave me a belated birthday card he had made, I realized why he was yellow.

HEATH with HIS PRESENTS and BIRTHDAY CARD

ANOTHER PROJECT - COMPLETED!

More than a year passed since we had basically completed the kitchen/dining room remodel, and I still didn't have the splash guard for the cooktop. Sure, I could have gotten something... like the stainless steel guards that started somewhere around a thousand dollars or so. At first, I thought we would install the tin ceiling tiles on the wall, but after finding that there were none to be had locally, I bought the faux kind. Dale and I decided those might not work out so well with hot grease spatters, so I returned those and put my brain into high gear to figure out another solution.

BEFORE

I finally had a bright idea! I knew what I wanted but never could find anything that would work. Finally, a few weeks ago, I saw what I was looking for at Hobby Lobby; except the items were not on sale. Needless to say, I try not to pay full price at Hobby Lobby unless I absolutely have to. A couple of weeks later... ON SALE!!! I grabbed up a few of the metal picture signs and put my husband to work. Poor guy had to file off the hangers on the backs of all the pictures (all of them had 2 hangers each - ouch!) Before we began on the project, we experimented on a spare picture to see which finish we would use and then did a grease spatter test. It survived the test and we began the final process. We mounted all the metal pictures onto a piece of plywood (sort of), lacquered them, and now I FINALLY have a splash guard.

Okay, maybe this isn't what most people would want. But I like it and I can guarantee that there is not another one like it in the whole world! Plus, the cost.... under $50.00. Yay!!!!

LEAVES, BOYS and CATS

Today, while blowing leaves into piles, Dale decided to build a fort/tunnel of leaves for the boys. As soon as they got home from school, ate a snack and changed clothes, they were in for a fun surprise. While they were crawling through tunnels, the poor cats got tossed into the leaves. Usually cats love to pounce into leaf piles but today it wasn't their thing. It was quite hilarious, though, to watch the cats emerging from the mountain of leaves. I never could get a good picture - never knew where they were going to pop out. I also was thinking it was too bad Matthew Williams didn't live a little closer so he could enjoy it too.

Update: Thought I was done posting on this subject, but have just been informed that one of the cats, Tippy, is now playing inside the leaf fort with the boys. I knew those leaves would be hard to resist!

NEWSLETTER SNIPPETS

Just to let everyone know who is interested, the Ritchey Bible Holiness newsletter will be linked here on my blog each month along with previous issues. I have also added a link that includes excerpts from some of the older issues of when the newsletter began.

All of these links are on the sidebar of this blog and if you are a facebook member, you can also link to the current newsletter on my info page. If you prefer to receive the newsletter through email, that is possible also as I have started an emailing list. If interested, send me your email address and I will add you to the list. Dan and Tammy Williams' blog also has a link to the newsletter, so if you happen to be there first - you won't have to come here!

We realize that there may be some information in the newsletter that only pertains to our local church, but some thought it would be nice to have others read it as we have many friends and family that may enjoy keeping up. It's just another way to share our lives and our God with others.

As a whole, the newsletter will be published about nine times per year.

PAUL REVERE POTATO HEAD

I am happy to report that Mr. Potato Head arrived safely at school today. He's gone, outta the house, on vacation, or whatever. Thank goodness. I am hoping this is the last project for awhile. I have other things I need to do than figure out how to dress up a potato as a person in history.

I am not going to say much about Paul Revere. I am not sure what is the whole truth about his life. He has been glamorized through my lifetime especially through Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." I'm pretty certain that I took that poem as the literal truth in history. Guess that's not exactly right and there seems to be more than one version about that historical night. I read recently that more than likely he wouldn't have been yelling out, "The British are coming, the British are coming!" because it was a secret mission and that would have been calling attention to himself. And then another comment was that if he did shout out words, it would have been "the Regulars are coming" because in all reality he himself was British at the time! Whatever the case may be, there is one thing that I do know for a fact and that is.... if he saw this potato that is being represented as himself, he would not recognize himself.

Anyway, glad that is done and now it's time to get cracking at the church newsletter.

3rd GRADE BABYSITTERS - YIKES!

A couple of weeks ago, Aaron the 3rd grader, informed me that it was time for the egg. I knew it was coming; just wasn't sure when that "sunny" day would be. Now to figure out what to make. The Seneca 3rd graders study about penguins every year. The teachers then bring hard-boiled eggs to school. Each child decorates his/her own egg, which is posing as an unhatched penguin. They take care of these eggs all day long..... when they go to lunch, egg goes with them. When they go to the restroom, guess who goes along? Out to recess? Yes, the poor eggs are dragged out to the playground. Why? Because the students were to learn and experience - sort of - penguin life. In extreme circumstances, like when it was Aaron's turn at tether ball, it was okay to ask friend or foe to take care of the egg. The objective was to make sure the egg was being taken care every minute of the day.

However, before this day dawns, the kids have to make a safe haven for the egg. Something that will protect the egg all day long; because at the end of the day they will be graded on how that egg survives. Cracks in the shell result in deduction of points off the grade. Therefore, the more secure the transporter is, the more likely the egg will survive.

So, here we were trying to decide what to do. Actually, all we had to do was line a shoebox or basket, etc. with padding to protect the "baby penguin" egg. But that is boring. When it was Heath's project, we took a half-gallon milk jug and dressed it up as a penguin with a sign saying "baby on board." So Aaron is saying, "Why can't we just do that?" I told him that would be sort of cheating. What would really be cheating is letting Aaron use Heath's carrier - yes, we still had it!

Finally we decided on what the little egghead's - the egg, not Aaron - haven was going to be. An igloo! Perfect. So I went shopping for supplies... a can of spray paint, a styrofoam ball, a cheap disposable plastic bowl and the rest of the supplies I already had at home.

We were in business. I had Dale cut out a round wooden base and cut and sand a dowel rod for the "south pole." I cut an opening in the bowl for the door and glued the bowl to the base. Then the styrofoam ball was cut in half and glued on top of the bowl with hot glue running down the sides a little to look like snow and then a couple or so coats of white paint was added. A blue marker took care of the ice chunks on the igloo and the decorative snow-in-a-jar finished off the styrofoam on top and around the base edges. The inside of the igloo was lined with cotton balls to make sure that not even the slightest crack was possible. I then cut a door out of another disposable bowl and velcroed it onto the igloo - must keep that egg happy with a glass door to look out. The final touches were to stick a sign in, decorate the pole and hang a bell over the doorway.

I'm not sure yet what grade Aaron received, but I do know that the egg was crackless when it got home. All this to make an egg happy; but if you look really close, you'll see it is sad. Now, I wonder why. Could it be because of its name? When I asked Aaron what he named it, he said, "Obi-Wan Kenobi." That would do it.

We are now in the process of another project for Aaron. Check in next week to see Potato Revere; whoops!! I meant Paul Revere.