New Uses for Common Household Items

Children are obviously curious about how things work. So, it is no wonder that David found the following new use for his electric toothbrush (thank you, Grandma Jo). And then Analeigh found the following new use for toilet paper. It is almost as if they don't appreciate the actual toys we bought for them to play with.

All Part of Ben's Master Plan

Today Ben completed Step 1 of his plan to receive a doctorate without going back to school. The final step involves being invited to speak at a university commencement ceremony and be presented with an honorary doctorate. Ben isn't really sure about how many steps are in between the first and the last, but he is going to keep chugging away.

This morning Ben was invited to be this evening's guest speaker for the Intro to Social Work class at Barton County Community College. Ben answered questions about what he does in his work and also tried to persuade future potential social workers to join the child welfare labor force. Overall, Ben believes the evening was a success - in spite of the short preparation time.

If anyone has suggestions on what step two of Ben's master plan should be (as well as how to accomplish the step), Ben would love to hear your ideas. Or, if someone reading this blog has the power to arrange for step two and the final step to be one-in-the-same, Ben would be very interested in hearing your ideas.

Movie Night

On occasion, for Family Home Evening, we choose to watch a movie. In order to be economical, we rent movies from Redbox. Ben's brother, Tom, turned him on to a website (Inside Redbox) that offers free codes for movies. One nice thing Redbox does is send out a code, via text message, for a free one night rental to be used on Mondays. Since we don't have text messaging, Inside Redbox is kind enough to post the code on their website. Then Ben goes to our local McDonald's or Wal-Mart after work (which is where we have Redbox vending machines).

We also pop popcorn (thank you Megan and Aaron for the air popper), which David loves to watch in action.

Have You Read any Good Davids Lately?

Well, have you?

Sharing is Caring

David loves apples. So it would have just been ridiculous to take a picture of him eating one, as it happens on a regular basis. Alas, he left it, half eaten, on the floor. So Analeigh came along and started eating it too, like so:


After she had her fill of sucking on the apple, she dropped it to move on to other things:


Then David came along, saw his apple, and resumed where he left off:


A little later Analeigh had another go at the apple. At that point we decided it was getting a little nasty and that it would be best to throw it out.

Nevertheless, we're just happy to see our children sharing so nicely.

Kansas Statute 82a-1401

The Kansas Statute mentioned above may also be referred to as the "Kansas weather modification act."

It can only be assumed that some state senators and/or representatives have decided to "modify" the winter weather. As you can see, there is no snow and it is warm enough for David to play in his sandbox.

Taking a Stand

Analeigh has recently taken to pulling herself to a stand and "cruising" around. She'll pull herself up at our fireplace, with our futon, any chair, desk handles, etc. Well, at least she is cute doing it.