Air Soft Gun...

Hunter recently received a gift certificate for Wal Mart from Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Camille for his birthday. We went to Wal Mart as a family to let Hunter use his gift card. Kory was not impressed with the toys that Hunter was wanting. He didn't want him to get a toy that would break in a week or that he'd loose interest in quickly. I agreed with this. Since he just had his birthday party and was given so many new toys I suggested maybe something for outside like a baseball bat and baseball, a soccer ball and cones (he wants to play soccer this fall) or The Ant Bully movie. We rented this movie several months ago and Hunter still talks about it and wants to rent it again. You get the picture of what I was going for. Daddy on the other hand thought maybe our "5" year old little boy would like not a pretend but a "real" bow and arrow set. Thankfully Wal Mart only carries these as a seasonal item and now is not the season. In the end Daddy helped Hunter pick out an airsoft gun that shoots mini plastic balls at 180mph. To ease everyones mind (including mine) he has been teaching Hunter gun safety while having fun shooting at targets.
Thankyou Aunt Camille and Uncle Jonathan.

Plastics

I was talking to my mom last week and she told me of a news report she had heard about chemicals in plastics. Some of these chemicals can leach into our food and cause health problems. I've been doing a little research and thought I'd share what I have found.

A lot of plastics have a recycle symbol with a number in it. These are the numbers you need to look at before buying products. The below picture shows everything I have found with a number 3 inside the recycle symbol.
The chemical that causes concern with this number is DEHA. DEHA leaches into our food but is worse when it is heated. Most of my plastic containers I store left overs in have this chemical. I don't know about you but I do my dishes as soon as the meal is over. So most of the time I am putting warm to hot food away in them which heats the plastic. When we eat the leftovers I generally throw the whole thing into the microwave once again heating the plastic. DEHA has a negative effect on the liver, kidney, spleen, bone formation and body weight. The below picture contains the #6 in the recylce symbol. The chemical causing concern is Styrene. This chemical is toxic to the brain and nervous system among workers with long term exposures. It also affects red blood cells, liver, kidney and the stomach in animal studies. I was given the oregano in the below picture at my bridal shower 6 1/2 years ago. Who knows how long it sat on the shelf before it was bought. How long is "long term exposure"? I wonder how much Styrene is absorbed into the spices, mustard and excedrin below. These pictures are just what I have found around my house. I wonder how many plastic containers are sitting on the shelves at a local grocery store. My Huggies wipe container also has this symbol.
The below picture has the #7. I found this to be the most concerning. The chemical is called Bisphenol A (BPA). Human exposure to BPA is widespread. A Centers for Disease Control study detected BPA in the urine of 95 percent of adults samples. Scientists have measured BPA in the blood of pregnant women, in umbilicla cord blood and in the placenta, all at levels demonstrated in animals to alter development. WOW!! BPA has been found to stimulate prostate cancer cells and causes breast tissue changes that resemble early stages of breast cancer in both mice and humans. Early life exposure can also cause genetic damage. BPA can lead to spontaneous miscarriages and birth defects. BPA has also been linked to early onset of puberty, and stimulation of mammary gland development in females. CHANGES IN GENDER-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR, increased prostate size, changes in hormones, including decreased testosterone, and decreased sperm production. Also behavioral effects including, hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness and impaired learning.
I was surprised to learn that most plastic baby bottles and sippy cups are made of BPA. The report read that most baby bottles are not labeled. In the above picture I show a Gerber sippy cup. I have 3 of these that have the indicated sign on it along with the only bottle I have left and the green tonka sippee. I have a few other brand sippy cups that are not labeled. I have sippee cups and plastic children cups with the #3. It is recommended to use glass baby bottles. Looking at my regular drinking cups that I have none of them have a recycle symbol on thembut I have 3 that have the #2, three with the #4, three with the #6 and three with the #7. I don't know what these numbers mean. They are identical cups that I bought all at once so I'm confused with the different numbers. As much as I don't like the idea of buying glass with my young kids maybe it's not worth the risk not knowing what chemicals these plastic cups have in them. This report also suggests to avoid plastic bottles of water and water jugs when you can because it is less regulated. When your plastic bottles and containers are scratched or just old it leakes more of the chemical.

This report also cutioned against plastic wrap. It should not be used in the microwave. I use it often to bake potatos when I don't have time for the oven. Even "microwave safe" does not mean there is no leaching of chemicals.

Safer choices of plastics have the #'s 1,2,4,5. Avoid #'s 3,6,7. I found several different reports on the web all saying the same thing. I just typed in Smart Plastics Guide. The website with the report I found I could understand the best I found on http://www.iatp.org/.

I hope I didn't bore you I found this rather interesting.

Moving dirt...

A friend told Kory that he had his backhoe in town and that he could borrow it on saturday. During the 5 hours we had access to it Kory put a water line in the backyard. We now have an outside spicket. Last year we planted some trees and tried growing a little garden. We had to fill up 5 gallon buckets in the bathtub to water our plants.
After the water line was done he moved to the front of the house. He moved the culvert over to the other side of the house and built our future driveway up with dirt. Eventually we'll poor cement but for now dirt will have to work. It's been so nice the past couple of days to park close to the house. It makes hauling groceries in much easier.

Hunter's birthday party

Saturday Hunter had his 1st birthday party. Boys only! We invited every boy from his primary class, the class above his and the 2 boys I babysit. 14 kids were invited and 12 of them came. I couldn't get some of the kids out of the bedroom to take a picture of everyone so this is the best I got. Hunter wanted a TMNT party so this was his cake. It turned out very well I thought. He was thrilled so thats all that counts.

Last year every store had something to do with the TMNT's. This year I couldn't find anything and wasn't willing to spend what the stores wanted online for shipping. So I used my imagination and got creative. This game was pin the eye on Leonardo.
This was a relay race hitting a balloon with a foam sword across the room and back.
I didn't get a picture of the kids throwing ninja stars at pop bottles but that was our 3rd game. We served pizza and green ooze (green punch). All the boys got to pick a bandana that was in the colors of the turtles. They were all sent home with their bandana, a foam sword and a bottle of ooze (homemade silly putty). Overall the party was a big hit and everyone had a good time.

Happy 5th Birthday

My Montage 4/2/08

Hunter is now "5"

Today is Hunter's 5th birthday. Since he gets up almost every morning at 6 we celebrated his birthday over breakfast. Pancakes is his favorite breakfast food. He was so excited to see we gave him 5 pancakes which he ate every last bite.
All these presents just for him.
He is such a good big brother, letting his sisters help him open his gifts.
He was so excited to find a bike waiting for him outside.
Happy Birthday Hunter!!

Schultz visit

This past friday the Schultz family came for a visit. We had a great time catching up on the past few months. Saturday we had several families over for a barbeque and little get together. Later that day the men went to the Priesthood Session and then out to dinner afterwards. While waiting on the daddies to come back to get their families we gave the kids a bath. Having so many kids running around after everything was said and done I realized Maddie was the only one who didn't get a bath that night. How many can you fit in your bathtub?

Maddies hair cut.

For several weeks Maddie has been asking to get her hair cut. Some of her preschool friends have had their hair cut recently (or cut it themselves). Not wanting her to try cutting it herself we made an appt with a friend last week. Maddie kept going back and forth from having it long enough still for a pony tail of a very short bob.
In the end she decided that her shoulders was a good length.She doesn't want to have piggies anymore but loves to wear headbands or just a barrett.
I think I've enjoyed her hair more then her. Very little tangles and it is much quicker to do.
Yesterday her hair kept getting in her face and she wanted to pull it back with a pony tail . To her disapointment it was too short for that. I'm glad we didn't go much shorter then we did. Isn't she cute? Mandy cut it just below a curl so it naturally flips up.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Last week Hunter and I made these party invitations for his upcoming birthday. This is his 1st birthday party with his friends. We invited 10 little boys from church and preschool. They are all 4-6 years old. He is having a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme (if you couldn't tell). Should be fun.

Shoes

With our dirt, rock, sticker weed landscpaing the kids know they are not allowed to go outside without shoes on. Hunter and Maddie were already outside when Emily woke up from her nap. She of course wanted to join the others but didn't have her shoes on. I was in the process of cutting up raw chicken and just glancing around the room I couldn't see her shoes. I kept telling her to go find them so I could put them on. She came back several times empty handed. I sent her off again for another search and realized she never came back. Being the front door was still wide open I figured she had gone outside without shoes anyways. This is what I discovered. Isn't she obedient. Couldn't find her own shoes so moms sandals will have to work.