Fried Spam, Cheese and Baloney!!!

My missing oldest child returned from scout camp today. I spent the afternoon hugging the boy and kissing his sweet cheeks. How did I forget how tall he is?

While I was figuring out which questions to ask so that I would receive more than one word answers, I stumbled across this little tidbit:

Me: So - what was your favorite meal?

Him: French Toast and sausage.

insert crickets chirping here

Me: Did you eat anything that you typically wouldn't?(This is based on me knowing that male scout leaders would not cater to the whims of picky eaters)

Him: Um, ya know, fried spam was not as bad as I thought it would be.

insert crickets chirping here - this time from me because I'm completely flummoxed.

They freaking fed my son fried spam!!!

Dear future daughter-in-law - I just want you to know that fried spam has never been something I have prepared for this darling boy to eat. He did that all on his own.

Hereditary Talons

This morning my boys had their semi-annual teeth cleaning. None of them had cavities!

On the way home, Evan was playing with his dino flosser and got it stuck between two molars. I tried to pry it out for him, and guess what popped out. A freaking filling! So - we get to go back to the dentist tomorrow. He's not in pain, and I think it's a baby tooth that should fall out soon. I'm hoping he can just live with the hole.

So - the other fun thing we found this morning is that Griffin's got a talon tooth. Do you know what that is? Well, it's where there's a talon-shaped tooth that either comes in between the front incisors or it attaches to the back of one.

Here's the deal: my dad had one...

AND - So did I.

Mine was attached to the back of my right incisor - the baby tooth version. I didn't think about that until the dentist said Griffin's could attach to the back of his tooth. I immediately remembered running my tongue over that bump. I swear that I held onto that tooth, but I've just searched everywhere I thought it would be, and nada.

It showed up on the xray they do to see whether he's got all his permanent teeth. So - we get to wait until it comes in to find out where it is.

It's a fitting feature for my Griffin... because you know what a griffin is, right?

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, grýphōn, or γρύπων, grýpōn; Latin: gryphus) is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle was the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Griffins are normally known for guarding treasure and well valued priceless possession.

Thanks wikipedia...

School is cool...

The past couple of weeks have been very emotional for me. First of all - Carson started Middle School. He's quit talking to me other than in one word spurts when he gets home. Jon can get a whole string of stories out of him, but me? Not so much... A friend at work suggested that I wait a couple of hours to start asking him questions. I've done this the past couple of days, and CJ has taken to seeking me out and asking if something is wrong with me! Love it...

Evan started school the day after Carson, and it's his first time going without his older brother. I should have thought this through and realized that this would be a slight problem. We dealt with it by going out to breakfast before school on the morning of his big day.

Griff was the one I was the most hesitant about. I'll be the first to admit that I amped up the "He's my baby..." this summer. Jon informed me that I had to quit because I was stressing the boy out. Does this looked stressed to you?

This morning was pretty funny. Carson woke Griff up to give him some big brother advice about entering kindergarten. Evan hung back until Carson left. Once that happened, Evan swept into full on defensive big brother mode.  I don't even know why I was here! Griff didn't need anyone else - it was all Evan. Notice the hand at Griff's back guiding him where he's supposed to go? The other hand was on the other shoulder...  Also notice the length of the bus driver's beard. The kids are calling him skinny Santa, but his name is Jim.

I'll leave you with this beautiful image. I'm off to pop open a Diet Coke and bask in solitude on my front porch. I love today.

1 dozen annual celebrations!!!

Happy Birthday Carson!

I loved you before I saw you, and even when you push my limits I love you more.

With you I get to figure stuff out.

Thanks for making that so enjoyable.

When a Librarian Says "SHHHHH!!!!!!" You Better Listen

.
.
.
This afternoon the boys and I ran over to the library to pick up my on-hold books, renew the checkout on Griff's Justice League DVD, and let Carson and Evan check out a book or two. Sounds like a plan, huh?

I'm a pretty lax library mom. We have a deal that Griff and Carson head to the kids DVD section. Evan grabs a book and then relieves Carson. I swing into the hold room and then stop by a computer to see when my next hold is going to show up. Then we all meet at the DVD section and narrow down Griff's selection. A boy's family should only have to put up with so many TMNT, Goosebump, and Sonic videos creating ambient noise you know?

Anyway - shortly after that we stampede to the auto checkouts, and see who can get finished first. While we wait for the others, we get to watch whatever animal happens to reside at our library. We've had chinchillas, sugar gliders, and now it's rats.

WELL, today we were approaching the checkout counter, and I discovered that I'd left my wallet home. This was a problem because not everyone has their library card bar code memorized (what is wrong with Carson, Evan, and Griffin?!) so most of us could not check out our selections.

Never fear - a plan popped into my head. The library has a program that allows you to read away your fines. You get $1 for each 30 minutes of reading done in the library. See that little earlier mention about renewing the checkout on Griff's Justice League DVD... Carson and Evan wanted to sit and read anyway, and Carson said he'd read to Griff. Please note that I was completely apprehensive of leaving Griff without my supervision, but the librarian said that as long as he was reading, he would be all right without me. That's as good as permission! Right??

So home I ran. Then the thought occurred to me that I needed to get the boys' Hunter Education Registration Certificates so that they could start the class tonight. What better time to do that than when I've got no boys with me? I took heed of my friend, Julie's, facebook status.. While I was waiting for the certificates to print, I remembered that I'd thrown my very short grocery list in my purse, AND I WAS OUT OF DIET COKE WITH LIME!!!!!

A mere 30 minutes later (that's 30 minutes after I decided to run through the grocery store) I pulled into the library parking lot. Now - any mom out there will recognize the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I tell you that the librarian was standing outside - WITH GRIFFIN. I parked, walked over to them, and made some comment about how Griff must not have been reading. She replied, "Nope!" with a very strong emphasis on the "p", turned, and walked into the library ahead of me.

Good news is that Carson and Evan completely read away their fines. As for Griff? She gave him fine credit, but I ended up paying for the Justice League DVD because it's been missing for about 5 weeks anyway.

I hope I don't see that librarian for a while.

What a morning...

...
...
...
Guess whose kids typically ride bus 1402...

My boys missed the bus this morning, and Jon drove them to school. They drove through the intersection and saw the whole thing. They're pretty shook up.

By the way - the bus driver was not drinking. The driver of the truck apparently was.

I asked Evan how everyone was doing at school, and he said that his friend Braydon O was bloody (that's Braydon's mom on the news clip) and that Woody was really bad. Woody is the bus driver.

Evan says they may never see bus 1402 ever again because they'll probably scrap it. Evan was very disappointed that Woody was not there to drive the kids home and wants to find out which hospital he's at so that we can go visit him.

Woody is a great bus driver.

I Don't Love My Kids' Dentist So Much

All right it's not his fault that it's been entirely too long since we had a good trip to the dentist. In fact, we don't even see the same dentist every time. We get whoever happens to be at the office the day we schedule our appointment.

Did I mention that every one of the 4 male dentists is incredibly attractive? That 3 of them are nearly perfect height? That every one of them has an uncanny ability to make you feel like you are the absolute most important person in the world? That you have to be a member of the pretty people club in order to be one of the assistants? No? Well - there it is.

Today was not one of our better trips. I have a strong ambivalence toward the dentist's office so I'm sure I let that rub off on my children.

Anyway - Carson went first. He has done a much better job brushing and flossing. THAT'S GOOD NEWS!!! But he has 6 cavities! AND Carson has no more baby teeth, so these all require fillings.

Next was Griff. This little guy really does try to brush and floss. He loves going to the dentist to get a new toothbrush and a toy from the treasure chest. He does NOT like the sedation crap they've had to force him to drink on trips past, and he reminded everyone that would listen today. This kid had his share of cavities (one of which is a repeat offender - we've filled the same tooth 3 times folks. This one now gets a lovely crown) AND we found out that he has something called hypoplastic molars.

I have been a bit concerned lately with the color of his 6-yr-old molars, which are all in the process of pushing their way through his gums. These four teeth are a lot darker than his others, and they are not standard tooth shape. Some of them seem to have extra cusps or have cusps that don't appear to be connected.





Apparently hypoplasticity occurs as a result of high fever, infection, antiobiotics, or flouride dosing. When the evil moons of Endor align during pregnancy or early part of life and one of these events occurs, hypoplasticity can happen.

So - what do they do? Well in a patient as young as Griff, apparently they fuse a glass isonomer to the tooth's surface. This is supposed to hold things together until he has permanent molars that will help hold a crown in place. Hypoplasticity apparently does not have an impact on permanent teeth.

Oh yeah - the dentist happened to mention that G is probably in pain when he eats. Every. Single. Time.

Evan got on the chaise last. He had one cavity, and it's in a tooth that should be falling out soon. So, we're just going to extract that one. Don't go thinking he let me off easy after his younger brother...

One of Ev's molars had a large filling, and the tooth somehow broke underneath the filling. While it's been broken, it's wedged itself up against another tooth. Guess what... That one broke too. You'd think I would have noticed something while flossing or that Ev would have been experiencing some sort of pain.... Nada. Both teeth need crowns.

So, here's my dilemma: things have been tight in the financial dept around here. I do have decent dental insurance, but I still have to pay 20% for most fillings. I have to pay 50% for the crowns. There is no way that I can just get all 3 boys immediately back to the office for their required treatment plans. But how do I decide which one of them goes now and which have to wait a few months?

Griff's in pain, so he's the one I chose to tackle first. Problem with that is his is the most expensive, and the dentist won't let me take the others in until I've paid all that I owe...

Guess now isn't the best time to mention that I also need to get Evan in for an eye appointment (he failed his school vision screening back in October) and I still need to take him to an ortho to have his knees evaluated.

How bout them apples?

I think I'd better head off to FaceBook for some Mafia Wars. Do you think taking out a rival family will help my frustration?

Carson

Carson's had a lot going on recently - he turned 11 on Aug 12, he started 6th grade on Aug 18, and he got his Arrow of Light on Aug 19. I've included his 3 year old picture because... Well, because he just isn't 3 anymore. I still like to think that every once in a while he'll need me like he did when he was that age. Although even then he didn't me that much.

Birthday

Every summer we spend an evening at Seven Peaks with my family. This year, it happened to fall on Carson's birthday. Grandma Norris picked up some of Carson's favorite sugar cookies, and we used those as his bday cake. Thanks to Aunt Christie for taking the photos - I'm such a slouch with the camera lately!



School

Carson and Evan had their clothes all organized on Sunday morning at about 7:00 am. They weren't excited or anything... The alarm clock rang at 6:30 on the big day. (they haven't been up before 7:30 since, but first day jitters are almost as good as Christmas morning, right?) They both got up, got dressed, and took their own photos (haven't I taught them well?)



The bus picks them up just 5 houses down the street, but Carson informed me that it's our tradition that I drive him to school on the first day and on the last day of school. Who am I to disappoint tradition? The boys' school had been remodeled over the summer (had to fix that roof that collapsed back in February), and even though 2 of the tracks had already been going to school for 3 weeks, Aug 18 was the first day that everyone was back at the real place. The kids got to go to a different location at the end of last year and the first weeks of this year. What a mad house!

I parked the car, and Carson jumped out before I could say a thing to him. The kids line up on the playground and then go inside the school when the bell rings, so Carson immediately took off to find his line. Evan wanted a little more assistance - he's in the mobiles behind the school. I left Griff with Carson to antagonize all those 6th graders, and Evan and I walked around back. On the way there Evan told me that I didn't have to kiss him. Nice. Made sure Evan was in line and then walked back to find my preschooler. Griff was doing exactly what I'd left him to do. I grabbed his hand; we waved goodbye to Carson, and we got in the car. Very uneventful.

Arrow of Light


Perhaps by the time Griffin is in cub scouts I will have gotten a little more excited about the program. Jon and I are cub master and committee chair, respectively, and I think we underwhelm on a regular basis. Carson's Arrow of Light ceremony was no different (although Aunt Valerie is a true scouter and made sure that we upped the ante on the type of arrows we present - thank you Val!). We did a short thing with a compass and the 5 badges. Then Carson tried to stick me with the mother's pin. Love that kid... Again - photo credits go to Evan.

Generational Resemblance

I love looking at photos and finding similarities between parents and children...

My cousin Miranda's blog contains this photo of her adorable daughter, Azalea. I know Zayley has a red-eyed thing going on here, but this little girl could stop traffic.


I was pulling ~25-year-old photos out of magnetic albums this weekend (can you believe that I haven't done that yet?) and found this photo of Miranda and her mom, Nina.


Do you see the resemblance?

How about in these?



Can you tell that these are taken in the same yard? I always thought that my Grandpa Egan's house/yard were timeless and that outside nothing changed. These photos are proof that that is not the case.

What changed in 25+ years? Chicken coop/Hay loft (where I got to feed baby chicks and lambs, got to watch a vet helping a lamb being born, and watched my brother run our uncle's 3-wheeler into one of the apple trees), the well/potato cellar (the old one went dry, so Grandpa had to have a new one drilled. I don't think Grandpa liked us jumping on the old metal lid, but man did that make some great noise), slides (which were out of control when you slid down them with wax paper underneath you), crab apple tree (which always confused me - why would you want to grow yucky apples?), horse chestnut tree (which I don't remember ever not being there and shading the driveway - but apparently it was added after I came along), curbing, tree stumps (these took the place of the crabapple tree as the stage of many theatrics), and kids wearing correctional shoes (my kids will never understand how awful these were).

What stayed the same? The clothesline, the smell, the wind, knowing that you're always welcome and always loved.

Back to the resemblance thing - I think these two show just how much Carson looks like me. I could pull out some of Jon and Evan or Jon and Griff, but it's my blog now isnt' it...

Oh - and just so that I don't negate the scrapbooking queen title that I've given myself in the past - The only photo in this post that was actually ever in a magnetic album was the one of Nina and Miranda. I may have been unaware of the detrimental properties of magnetic pages when I was young, but I would never have put photos of my boys in such things! Sheesh.

What's in Water?

Poor Carson... His science fair is this week, and I've been so excited! He came up with a great project idea dealing with melting cups around a camp fire, but project set up required too much thought on my part. We'll save that one for next year.

This year I wanted him to understand a little bit about what I do at work, and he was working on his scientist award for Webelos. There was an idea for M&M Chromatography, and I was all sorts of ready to ah-hum "guide" the project selection.

Here's part of the report we put together. I don't think there's too much evidence that I was involved (I've also got stock in some great ocean front property in Central Wyoming if you're interested). I forgot to take a picture of his display board before he left for school today. I'll post one of him standing next to it at the science fair tomorrow.

Between this and his beans & cornbread deal, can you tell that I'm loving my son's 5th grade year?

Purpose
My mom and I read a newspaper article about some soil and groundwater contamination at Hill Air Force Base (Deseret Morning News, 2007). I was curious about how they found out how much contamination was present. Therefore, the purpose of my science experiment is to find the contents of groundwater. I would also like to find out how to determine the amount of pollution in groundwater.

Hypothesis
I think that a chromatogram will tell me which colors are mixed in water. (Carson missed 2 points on his journal because this wasn't a question. I had it out with his teacher - I can't submit a report to a client with question marks in it, so I completely disagree about this being a question. I lost the argument, so he got a final score of 98/100. However, I did get asked if I'd like to help judge the projects next year. :) )

Step by Step Procedure
1. Cut coffee filter into approximately 2-inch wide strips.
2. Staple a loop in one end of coffee filter strip.
3. Slide loop around a pencil.
4. Fill each cup with ½ cup tap water.





5. Put M&Ms in cups.
6. Let M&Ms sit in water until shell is no longer colored.
7. Stir water to mix colors.
8. Remove decolored M&Ms from one cup using slotted spoon.
9. Wash slotted spoon with tap water and Joy dish soap.
10. Rinse slotted spoon with tap water three times.
11. Dry with paper towel.
12. Throw paper towel away.
13. Repeat steps 5 through 9 for all cups.


14. Put pencil on rim of cup.
15. Adjust length of coffee filter strips to sit in water.
16. Let sit overnight.
17. Remove pencil and coffee filter strips.
18. Pour water down drain.
19. Throw away cups.



20. Scan or photograph paper strips.









Recorded Data
On January 5, 2008, I gathered all of the needed equipment. I was taking pictures of setting up the experiment, and the cup holding all of the M&Ms spilled on the floor. All of the M&Ms were picked up and placed back in the cup.

I separated M&Ms into 6 cups and then added water. The first thing I noticed was that the chocolate in the broken M&Ms was dissolving into the water. The second thing I noticed was that there was a different amount of water in each cup. I emptied the water from each cup and threw away the remnants of the M&Ms.

I started the experiment over using non-broken, non-cracked shell M&Ms and ½ cup of water in 4 new 16-ounce plastic cups.

After the color had dissolved off the M&Ms and I was mixing the colors, I discovered that if I used the same stirring spoon in each cup, it would mix colors from all cups. I used a new plastic stirring spoon for each cup to avoid mixing the contents. However, when I used the slotted spoon to remove the de-colored M&Ms, I did not have multiple slotted spoons.

My mom explained the difference between dedicated equipment and non-dedicated equipment. She told me that when groundwater samples are collected with non-dedicated equipment, the equipment must be decontaminated between uses. So, I used the slotted spoon to remove the de-colored M&Ms from Cup A. Then I washed the slotted spoon with tap water and Joy dish soap. I triple rinsed the slotted spoon with tap water. My mom told me that triple rinsing is standard procedure when collecting field samples.


After rinsing, I dried the slotted spoon with a paper towel. The paper towel was thrown away after each use.

After allowing the filter strips to sit in water for 2 hours, I noticed that the color at the top of each strip varied. I was not able to see whether the color combinations I’d placed in each cup had any influence on the colors on the filter strips.

After the strips had been in water for 6 hours, I noticed that blue was the color at the top of each strip. Strips A & B were placed in cups with the same mixture of colors, but the water traveled further up Strip A than it did Strip B.

Conclusions
Three cups contained known amounts of specific M&M colors. I assumed that based on the filter strips from the known cups I would be able to figure out what colors were in the unknown (Cup D). I know there were some blue and some yellow, but I was unable to determine if there were any red, green, orange, or brown.

I did not see a green stripe on any of the filter strips. I think this is because green is already a mixture of two other primary colors: blue and yellow, which both can be seen on the filter strips.

When I soaked the M&Ms in the water, the white “M” came off and floated on top of the water. I do not know why it did this, and I wonder if this had an impact on my chromatograms.

I located another article which describes the M&M chromatography process (Valparaiso, 1997). This article said that the M&Ms should only be left in the water until a little color has washed off. According to this article, leaving the candy in the water until it is cloudy results in a solution that contains too much sugar and will result in jagged spectrums on the filter paper. This is exactly what happened in my experiment.

I learned about using dedicated and nondedicated sampling equipment. Dedicated sampling equipment does not need to be decontaminated (decon’d). Non-dedicated equipment needs to be decon’d or you may get cross-contamination between samples.

I also learned about investigation derived waste. If I had been working with the PCBs and TCEs that lead to my experiment, I would not have been able to throw away the M&Ms, the plastic cups, the stirring spoons, the rinse water, the paper towels, or the water after the experiment was completed. It would need to be put in the proper container and disposed of in an appropriate location.

If I were going to do my experiment again I would do the following:
1. Use longer filter strips
2. Leave the M&Ms in the water for a shorter period of time
3. Do more controlled mixtures containing only 2 colors of M&Ms so that I could determine the order in which the colors should appear on the filter strip. Cup C contained only blue and red M&Ms. It is easy to see the order that they appear on the filter strip.

Finally, I learned about a chromatograph. This is a piece of laboratory equipment that generates chromatograms. The figure on the following page (we can't put this on the blog because it's in a format not supported by Blogspot) is a chromatogram of a sample that was analyzed for common volatile organic compounds, (VOCs). In this chromatogram, benzene is the first compound. This is similar to the blue dye on my chromatograms. I learned that using a chromatogram like the one on the next page, you can find the concentration of compounds by calculating the area of each peak.. I would have needed much more technical equipment to produce the VOC chromatogram!


Bibliography
Curran, 2004. Homework Helpers: Chemistry. Career Press. Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. Pages 17-19 and 295.

Deseret Morning News, 2007. Tests Uncover Mostly Low Levels of PCBs at Hill AFB. Wednesday, March 21, 2007. Accessed online.

Hill, 2008. Personal interview with Staci L. Hill, Professional Environmental Engineer. January 5, 2008.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2007. Groundwater Contamination. http://www.epa.gov/superfund/students/wastsite/grndwatr.htm. Accessed January 5, 2008.

Valparaiso, 1997. The Cause of Color. http://www.valpo.edu/organization/psme/labs/uv/CauseofColor.doc. Accessed January 7, 2008.

Wikipedia, 2007. Chromatography. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatography Accessed January 5, 2008.

Jazzy Jinglin Bells

Carson decided to join the Terra Linda Elementary School Choir this year. They had their Christmas concert on December 13. It was great! The choir director taught them 9 songs, which included choreography, bells, lights, and singing in both Alto and Soprano. Sounded fabulous!


Jon told Carson to use his flashlight and point out the girl he likes. Carson just did his typical pre-teen frozen eye stare and turned to aim the light right at Mom and Grandma Norris. Thanks, Cars we really enjoyed that part.


He later confided (I suppose it'll be the last time if he finds out the conversation is now on our blog...) that he couldn't point her out because with all of the girls grouped together (see far right side of photo), he wouldn't be able to shine it at just one. At that point he turned red, realizing that he'd just admitted there was one that's caught his interest. He wouldn't tell me who it was specifically, but he had 3 reasons to take named females off his prospective list.
1. Her front teeth aren't straight.
2. She's already liked half of your class. (I'm assuming this means that he won't be considering any floozies)
3. When she dumps you, she dumps you hard - Apparently Samantha (who would be my first choice for my son's first 5th grade girlfriend) dumped Carson's friend Jordan the day before the choir concert. Not only did she tell him that she was dumping him, she had at least 5 of her friends talk to Jordan throughout the day to make sure he knew. Carson's last response on the subject was, "If I'm gonna get dumped like that, why would I want to like her?" (And this was the crowning moment - he already understands that at 10/11 years old, these things are definitely temporary.)

Cornbread and Beans

Carson had some assignments to choose from for his Colonial Project. There was a total of 150 points required, and he chose a 150 point project - Making Cornbread and Beans and serving it to his family for dinner. The following text and pictures are what he submitted as proof that he did the assignment.

Cornbread
I thought I could take a card out of my mom’s recipe box, read it, find the ingredients, and make the corn bread. My mom didn’t have a recipe, but we found one on the cornmeal box.
I didn’t know what corn meal was so we talked about how it was made. We guessed that you plant corn, let it grow, pick it, husk it, dry it out, then grind it. If you grind it when the corn’s still wet, you’d probably make a mess.



Beans
We had no idea how to make beans. We had a bunch in storage in our basement. I got a can of pinto beans. We called my great-aunt to ask her what to do. She said almost exactly what the directions on the can said.
First, we put the beans in the crockpot with water, turned the crockpot on low, and soaked the beans over night. We dumped the water down the sink the next morning. My grandma said you have to get rid of the water so that the beans don’t make you gassy. My mom had saved some ham drippings from Thanksgiving, so we added those to the soaked beans, put in more water, and then let the beans cook all day long. We added chunks of ham a couple of hours before we ate.



Dinner was DELICIOUS!!!!!

Hike from H-E-double hockey stick...

Carson had a great time on the Clements Lake hike with Jon & Uncle Ben (It’s 22 miles and 4000 ft elevation change roundtrip!). He befriended a deer, talked Ben's ear off about Pokemon, and according to his dad was quite the trooper. Carson loves talking about this trip, so if you have a minute go ahead and ask him.

On the way down, Carson literally walked the soles right off his shoes. Think we could get a refund? He bought them a couple Saturdays before the hike and had put in quite a few miles walking in them on the treadmill so that he’d be ready. Good thing Ben's trained in proper taping techniques (although I'm not sure there is a proper method for taping shoes) and Jon had tape on his walking stick!

By the way, should any of you find yourselves interested, here's the link (I know it's not a working link - just copy the address into your browser, all right?) to a document that describes the construction this summer at Clements Lake. I know it’s my inner nerd, but I think it would have been amazing to be there the day they airlifted in the construction equipment.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/ashley/projects/clements_lake/clements_ops_plan.pdf

Fast as a Speeding Bullet

Carson took first place in this year's Pinewood Derby!

Jon and our neighbor, Gary, were placing the rear axle as Staci was trying to get the boys herded out the door and loaded in the car. How's that for last minute preparation?



Carson chose a color that Jon calls @&*%-blue. (We ran out of time to get to the store, so he had to choose from whatever paint was available in the garage and basement) I think it turned out just fine. Of course I can say that because it's the color that I chose to paint Carson and Evan's dresser. Jon dressed it up with a coat of gloss finish.



Have to apologize for the photo quality. Our digital camera was broken by an independant, adventurous 3-yr-old, who lives at our house. So the phone was what we had to work with.