Banning Plastic Toys

It is the last day of the year. I don't normally make New Year's Resolutions but I am going to. RIght now! I WILL NOT BUY any more plastic toys for my children. Why you ask? Well, make yourself comfortable. This story might take a while.

One busy day before Christmas, actually the day after I returned from a visit to Canada, MacGyver and I went on a Christmas shopping date. I presonally think he went shopping with me because he really missed me, otherwise he never would have agreed to it. PLUS he took me out for lunch AND got me a new and improved cell phone. Yip! He must have really missed me!

So anyway, ran a couple more errands and then bought Bam Bam a remote control car at Target for $12. He told everyone who asked that we wanted a remote control car and an electric guitar. The electric guitar is out of the question - at least until he's 12. I told him this and now he says he gets an electric guitar when he's 20. The number 20 is really important to him. More so than 12... he'll learn.

Bam Bam's birthday is really close to Christmas so he got 2 loads of gifts They were really great gifts too.He got an Armor of God uniform, a gun that shoots nerf darts quickly (like a semi-automatic weapon) and suctions to things, and several little cars from his sisters (who love finding cars at Thrift Stores), and a Hunter Guy with a rifle. He was very happy about his gifts. UNTIL... over the next 6 days we had mucho company. Some had big boys (in their 20's) and some had younger boys (early teens) but they were all LITTLE BOYS AT HEART! The gun got a workout. Then it stopped working. The big boy took it apart, and then put it back together, but that didn't fix it. The Sheild of Faith apparently was a hit - that is until half of the handles on the back got torn off. And the Hunter Guy with the rifle. Well, have a look for yourself...



Apparently our dog also like that toy.

Oh, and the remote control car. It did half of what it said it would. I DID go forward and right. It just DID NOT go backward - or left.

I'm sure you can understand that MacGyver felt bad for his son, so they loaded up the truck and went into town. He returned the car to Target and went to Walmart (just a couple days after Christmas - I was glad it was him and not me!). We both try to avoid Walmart, especially MacGyver, so I knew he REALLY felt bad. He bought Bam Bam a new gun that's much smaller and only shoots 3 nerf bullets that stick. But - it has a really cool laser light that shines right before you pull the trigger. A much better design. The best thing about it though - it still works! Also, he bought a remote control 4-wheeler. When they returned home we ripped open the box, plugged in the batteries and ta-da! It worked. It worked going forward, backward, left and right. It worked for about 5 minutes!!! THEN IT WOULDN"T GO FORWARD ANYMORE!!!

So Bam Bam just walked away, sadly. We all know it's just a material thing and we teach our children that material things don't matter as much as being kind and finding ways to serve others. I must confess that I was not having 'kind' thoughts about Walmart or the maker of the 4-wheeler! Poor Bam Bam! I hated seeing him so sad. It would be better to get no toys than have them all break and stop working shortly after getting them. It reminded me of a short movie I watched called Story of Stuff. You should check it out at www.storyofstuff.com. It made me realize just how much junk we accumulate that doesn't last 6 months in our house and just fills the land fill.

I was planning to return the 4-wheeler. Until Buddy took care of it for me...



Notice the handle bar and side fender...

Sigh, now you can understand why I say, "No More Plastic Toys!"

Cookies Anyone?

I decided that I wouldn't worry about what I ate over the holidays and enjoy every - sweet - bite. So I had a couple cookies here and there, and a second helping of turkey, my mother in law's awesome cranberry salad (reallly more like dessert), and cousin Janna's strawberry cheesecake. YUMMY! Then Bam Bam comes up to me in the kitchen the next day, swipes a cookie, and with a very serious expression says:

Bam Bam: "Mommy, I'm gonna have a fat butt!"

Me: "Oh really? What makes you think that?"

Bam Bam speaking very matter-of-factly: "Because when you eat lots of cookies you get a fat butt."

Me: "And where did you learn that my dear?"

Bam Bam: "Betty Sue told me."

Betty Sue is his surrogate Grandma and we just visited her last month.

He remeberred this from last month!!!

OK then! Spoken from the mouth of a babe. It made me think twice about the cookie I was about to grab for... But then I ate it anyway!

Next Best Thing to Rome

My head is swimming right now. It's 11:08 PM and I should be sleeping. But I can't. Not when my head is swimming with recipes. You see, the past 4 days have been filled with Christmas parties, planning what to bring (food wise and gift wise), and grocery shopping. Oh yes, and the orthodontist appointments... I'll have to share about that later.

Now I find myself with a FREE schedule for the next 3 days!!! It almost didn't end up that way. MacGyver is going to Rome, Italy tomorrow and coming back Wednesday. I was going with him until 2 hours ago - until I decided that it would be too busy to leave the children and house just before Christmas. Also, we wouldn't return until 6 PM Wednesday, which is precisely the time SaSa must be at church to be an angel usher for the Christmas Eve service. Oh, and also to practice playing the handbells with KK and two other girls from church. I also should prepare the house for next weekend when we have a family reunion and are hosting 10 of the family here... and wash the dirty laundry. So I guess I'm not completely free the next 3 days... But mostly...

So I've spent the last hour on Mama JJ's cooking blog links. I am SOOOO INSPIRED! If it wasn't so late I believe I'd start cooking and baking right now! Have you seen her sourdough bread? You must have a look. Try www.mamasminutia.blogspot.com. I actually tasted one of those sourdough buns - it was like eating a bite of heaven! I plan to learn to make that in 2009. It'll be my 'branching out with bread' recipe. All I make right now is Oatmeal Bread, which is our family favorite. But I think it's wise to shake things up every now and again - don't you!?

I've decided over the next three days I MUST make Peppermint Bark (I can just taste it from seeing the picture on Orangette's blog). I thought I was done with sweets after the butter cookies I made last week. They were a new recipe for me and oh. Oh my! They were soooo gooood - I ate 7 in one afternoon! I decided right then and there that I wouldn't make anything else that was so delicious and tempting to eat. I packaged up those butter cookies and banished them to the freezer. Hah! I thought I had temptation beat - but it turns out we've had to take a couple out hear and there... just for a nibble. I believe there are - oh - about 7 cookies left. I might have to make some more...

Tomorrow I plan to bake foccacia bread topped with tomatoes and goat cheese along with fried goat cheese (which has some fancy name I can't pronounce from a blog name I'll have to look up again). Can you tell I have goat cheese in my fridge right now? I need to eat it up because I discovered some incredible, melt in your mouth, Olive Garden saucy tasting cheese at a Christmas Party yesterday. It's from Costco! Which means I can have it just as soon as I drive there. But... I can't justify buying more cheese until I use up what I have.

Now do you understand why I'm so excited that I can't sleep? I have 3 days to try new recipes. Make new melt-in-my-mouth sweet things to taste and banish to the freezer. And to eat a fair bit of goat cheese. No more Christmas parties to think of - although they were all really fun. No homeschooling for the next 2 weeks. No orthodontist appointments to determine how we build our day.

I feel like I've just been given a day at the spa!

Oh, and MacGyver is going to bring back some pasta and olive tapinade from Italy for me. I don't know if it'll be any better than what we can buy here but it sure is exciting to think of!

Precious Moments

Bam Bam had been very interested in heaven lately. We had a short discussion on the way to preschool yesterday about Jesus. Often I wonder if he's listening or understands what I say. Today, as we were driving to a friends house, I learned he was listening and does understand... a little bit anyway!

Bam Bam, "Sasa, did you know dat, um, dat if you ask Jesus to come help you - a whittle piece of him comes and lives in your hawt (heart)?"

Sasa: "Where did you learn that Bam Bam?"

Bam Bam: "Mommy told me."

Mommy: "Bam Bam, did you ask Jesus to come live in your heart yet?"

Bam Bam: "No... but I'm going to wite now"

He mumbles to himself a bit, then I asked him if he wanted me to help him. He said, "Yes." So he repeated after me asking Jesus to help him everyday, and forgive his sins, and live in his heart forever. Although he doesn't understand the true meaning of what he said it makes my heart burst with joy!

Then I asked him: "Do you know what sins are Bam Bam?"

Bam Bam: "No..." Well, at least he gets part of it.

I was so excited that he could understand that Jesus helps us and lives in us. Then, I explained as simply as I could what sins were and wondered if he understood. Already after supper this was our conversation.

Bam Bam sitting on the kitchen floor eating a cookie: "Mommy, I have a sewpwise for you!"

Mommy: " Oh good, I love surprises. What is it?"

Bam Bam: "My sewpwise is I'm gonna try to be kind and share!" Then I get this giant smile!


The picture is from last summer but the smile is the same...

Now doesn't that just melt your heart? What a precious little boy!