Getting to know Ari

Last night was Pack Meeting for our ward. The activity part of the evening was getting to know the leaders and the boys as there have been major changes in the past few months. They sent home a questionnaire to be filled out. We decided to fill it out as a family. Here is what can be learned about him:

My cub scout's name is: Ari S.
He has 7 siblings (6 sisters and 1 brother)
He was born July 4th
His special talents and qualities I admire are: he's a great speller, he sews, draws, and is an excellent reader.
One of his favorite things to do is: read.
One of the funniest things that ever happened when he was involved was: Well yesterday he put on his Care Bear costume that he wore in 1st grade. He says that lunch recess is always funny. And when he was 5 we went tubing and he went down the hill on the disk, hit a bump, and did a flip. It scared me, but he thought it was great.
His goals for the future are: to go on a mission, go to college and become a teacher, and to invent a transportation device. This is to cut down on driving time going to visit family (he gets car sick sometimes) and to cut down on costs.
He is special to our family because: he loves the little kids and is always willing to help take care of them.

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72 hour kits

As General Conference is approching, we are getting ready to go through our stuff for 72 hour kits. As I was looking for a few lists to make sure we are on the right track, I discovered a web site with some interesting information. I also got some feed back from some others out there that I hope will help us all out. Thanks to all for sharing these ideas and things with us.

My brother and I have both had problems with mice getting into 72 hour kits in the last year. I found out that mice have no trouble chewing through juice boxes, in spite of the tinfoil layer. Couldn't figure out where all that liquid dripping down my shelves came from! They also like trail mix quite a bit. We revamped our 72 hour kits, putting everything not in cans into plastic gladware type containers to keep the vermin out. We are having to plan for new allergies also, so most of our old 72 hours kits (and much of our year supply - sigh - all that wheat) is now useless to us, except for barter. My brother's experience with mice was far more amusing. They got into the m&m's in his 72 hour kit in the garage, and painstakingly carried them all into a stash in the oil pan of his car. Next time he took his car in for an oil change, they paged him and made him come back so that he could see the oil pan full of m&m's!
Pam

We use the pop-top fruit cans and have never had a problem. I don't think those cans of fruit are supposed to be stored that long (more than 2.5 years), and it's possible that they were stored in some extreme temperatures. I have had candy melt before and not just Jolley Ranchers. I think any hard candy that is a bit translucent will melt. I've learned to just stick to hard peppermint candies. We rotate our 72 hour kits (they are in 2.5 gallon paint buckets) every General Conference, though sometimes we leave some things untouched (i.e. MREs and water bottles) if they haven't been stored very long. I do recommend replacing tuna fish, or similar every 6 months at the longest! And always store something in the original packaging. Trying to buy a big bag of pretzels and separating them into smaller packages (even with vacuum-sealed bags) is asking for a yucky snack later! We learned that the hard way.

:)
Arlyn

I put my 72 hour kit into a large heavy duty plastic container with cover and handles. I keep in in our closet under the stairs, so we can grab it quickly. No bugs have ever gotten into it (but then again we do have pest control). Every so often I open it up to update the items and take out things my kids no longer would find "fun" to do or eat. I usually put food items that will last a year into it. I check the dates on the cans at the supermarket to make sure items will last. I have spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital lately and haven't been able to check my kit which makes one feel uneasy during hurricane season here. Luckily my Mom (non-member) came to help and checked things for me. I do have friends that keep their kit in the same plastic containers in their garage with no problems. Of course since we live in Florida we don't put things likc chocolate or items that will melt in the garage. You can keep a goody storage container inside the house but make sure it is out of sight. :) In Florida we don't have basements either so we have to make good use of space. We have to get pretty creative. Like putting plastic containers with food storage under the bed. One can even decorate boxes or baskets with storage items inside and place a little plant by it. I also keep all important papers in a zip lock plastic bag. All family photos are stored in my closet in a ready to go plastic container.
Daisy
P.S. I also keep dog food and toy in our 72 hour kit for our dog

Something that was told to me a long time ago about 72 hour kits is that you want to put them in some type of backpack.
The reasoning behind that is if you have to walk because roads are blocked and you can't drive anywhere, carrying something
in your hands can be very tiresome. I don't know if you have gone hiking holding on to something and about 30 minutes in
you wish you had put it into a backpack, but I have and frankly, I don't know if I would want to carry a big plastic bucket full
of cans. We use MREs, which I must admit aren't the most tasty, but they are nurtritious and store very very well.

Just an idea,

Dacia

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Kids Say III

Ok, so last night we were discussing about the medical field being sued for all kinds of malpractice stuff, including people who are diagnosed with cancer and given 6 months to live and then end up not dying at all (well, until it's their time to go of course). The reason someone would sue medical personnel for this type of misdiagnosis is because they have given away all their stuff to friends and family, and now are left with out some things they need.
Julia's comment on this was the best.
This person would be in the kitchen wanting a great snack and would say, "Hey, I think I'll make a ...smoothie....Oh, yeah, gave my blender away to Bronson."
When I asked her if I could share this comment, she said I could if I would share Jayden's new phrase.
This past summer, Jayden (being the boy he is) was making the ppfffttt sound and saying, "That came out of my butt." One day when we told him for the millionth time to not use that word, he said, "It's not that kind of butt, it's the other kind." We told him that other word was used like however. So a few minutes later he made the pfffttt sound again and said, "That came out of my however." Pin It

We Be Jammin' (plums, apples, and babies, Oh My!)

It is fall as of yesterday, so of course this means harvest time. Now I love to can, so of course I had to make jam, ..... and apple butter, ..... and dehydrated apples (but no salsa this year).
Last week I did one batch of jam and one of apple butter. Yesterday my mom came and we were able to get through 5 batches of jam and one of apple butter. We also dehydrated 2 batches of apples.
The thing I learned about canning is that helping hands make light work. I had the kids pick apples and plums last week. My mom arrived Sunday night and we started working Monday morning after getting everyone off to school. Jayden and Katia were in charge of keeping Emma and Delta happy. I also let Jayden help with some other things. He ran the food processor (while wearing earmuffs), laid apples on the dehydrator, and helped run things here and there.
It was a tiring day, but I kept telling myself, "Clay loves my jam." "My jam is Clay's favorite." (Clay is my nephew who loves the plum jam.) This made the fruity hands, hours standing, and sticky floor worth it.
The plums were the hardest to process. They don't release their pit as easily as cherries and apricots. You have to either cut around it and lose some of the fruit, or squish the meat off the stone. This means that your hands are stained for a few days. I figured that someone would have found an easy way to do this process, but after doing a search online, everyone was just complaining about the same thing I was. Oh well.
I am glad to say that I have only 3 more batches of jam to do.

Katia was very good at playing with the babies. She got so tired that she fell asleep in the baby swing. Don't ask me how she climbed into it.
Emma was feeling abandoned by the end of the day. She finally fell asleep about 10:00 after I held and played with her for about 2 hours straight. Pin It

Kids say II

Okay, so Katia is on a roll. Tonight she has a sore bum and after a diaper change said, "I want a pink band-aid on my bum."

We also got Elyse's school picts today. Here is a preview. Watch for a copy around Christmas.


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