Ribbon Wands, Marshmallow Men and Hammie

Last night the boys wanted me to take their picture with our new hamster that we renamed Hammie the Hamster thanks to Mamaw's suggestion...thanks Mamaw! The name has gone over really well. As I type this I keep getting distracted because it is gnawing the tar out of it's cage AND climbing up the top of it! Gosh, during the day she sleeps and at night she is wild! Poor kids don't get to see this action!

Right after this picture was taken everyone jumped up because I put Hammie down. No one wanted to touch her. She even started running towards Chris who was sitting on the floor and he jumped up mighty quick saying "Get that thing away from me!!". It was pretty funny. I live in a house with a bunch of sissy boys! ;-P

We had our neighbors over yesterday to make ribbon wands. The boys had a good time of it. There was a slight breeze in the air so the ribbons flew well.

Ryland had to get in on the game playing today.

Today we made marshmallow men, tin foil pictures (not shown) and monsters made out of clay (also not shown).

Ryland and Codie enamored by Hammie. She rolls all over the place unless she's being stalked by these two.

Tyler Talk

We got a hamster today. Yes, my husband is thrilled. Friends of ours knew a family that was moving off island and they needed a good home for "Hannah". I volunteered as a last resort and forgot to mention that to Chris. I figured that I wouldn't get her but turns out we did! Chris was not happy about it but is making a sacrifice for the boys ;-)

Anyhow, Tyler seems to think that she's a guinea pig. I guess because of our neighbors, his girls, had guinea pigs so everything small and furry is a guinea pig. Only he calls them GOONIE pigs. He has now shortened to goonie. Whenever he talks about her he says, "I wanna see my goonie.....Look at her veggie tale!"

Some of his other favorite things to say is BAD Knees for Japanese!

Summer Vacation cont....

Chris had duty the other day and we came to have dinner with him. He has to be present for the lowering of the flag and the boys always enjoy watching it. I just love this picture.

Ryland walking!

We made nibble sticks from a cookbook that we got from Mamaw's friend, Angie. Thanks Angie...they were YUMMY!

Yesterday we made homemade bread...FOUR loaves to be exact. My arms are tired! I "knead" a mixer! Today we made homemade ice cream in a bag. It didn't come out as planned but it still tasted good when frozen...just like Wendy's frosty!

Makeover Time

My blog was looking a little stale lately so I had to change things up. The blog that I've frequented cutestblogsontheblock.blogspot.com
has changed their format and are now giving instructions on how to make your own background. I jumped on that right away! This is just the beginning of my changes, pretty much to see if I could do it! It's pretty basic right now but once I have some time (yeah right!) I'll change it again. I hope you like it!

Finger Painting

My boredom buster for the day was making homemade finger paint. This was a lot of fun although the finger paint was used more for painting each other rather than paper. I'm glad we did it outside because my lawn was VERY colorful! Afterwards we had a squirt gun fight to clean each other off. My squirt gun was the hose.

It all started out well on the paper....

But quickly turned into painting whatever was near by...

Tyler, Mr. Clean Jr, loves having his feet painted.

My first use of the timer on my camera...not bad, eh?

Recipe for homemade finger paint:

3 TBS sugar
1/2 Cup Cornstarch
2 Cups COLD water
Liquid dish soap
Food coloring

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch on low heat. Add water and stir until mixture thickens (this may take a few minutes). Remove from heat and separate into cups. Add a few drops of food coloring and soap to each cup. Mix and cool before play begins. Warning: Not responsible for what takes place next!

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great day hanging out at the house for my man, the homebody. He asked me, "What would you do if it was Mother's Day?" and of course I say, "Hike down to Haputo Beach". With Chris, that's not gonna happen! He preferred to relax at home, take a nap, clean the van with his new shop-vac (his daddy day gift) and eat the yummy homemade brownies that I made for him.It was a great day!

Everybody knows that umbrellas go with slip-n-slides, right?

Big bro helping him down the slide.

Caught grabbing the toilet paper!

Everyone has fun with daddy's present! We made a spaceship out of the box.

In the evening we did a fun quarter-walk with our neighbor. You take a quarter and flip it upon leaving the house. Head-turn left Tails-turn right. We went all over the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun plus we were able to walk off all the brownies we just ate! After the sun went down we played a game of flashlight tag. The boys had a blast!

Here's the recipe to the best brownies you will ever eat!! I've always made them from a box and decided to make them homemade today. Boy I'm glad I did but my waistline isn't!

Yummiest Brownies EVER!

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.

In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, baking powder, and chocolate chips. (Note: if you toss your chips with a teaspoon of flour they won't stick to the bottom of the pan.) Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

Farewell friends...

We said good bye to our good friends, the Pattons, tonight. We spent the day at the hotel they stayed at, the PIC. It's a favorite of ours and the boys got some good pool time. Afterwards we went to our favorite italian restaurant, Vitales and then to get ice cream. We had a really nice time. They've been such good friends to us and we will miss them so much. Theresa came over at 3 am to watch the boys when I went into labor. She and her girls have babysat countless times when I needed a break. Being on Guam means missing your family but thankfully we had the Patton's as our navy "family". They will be missed!

Ryland was a little tired from his eventful day at the pool to stay awake for a picture!

Logan, my little photographer, took this picture. He told us how to pose and Tyler stood next to him trying to get us to smile! He kept saying, "Now say cheeeeese!"

It's been a while...

Well it hasn't really but in Amyland it's a long time if there aren't any posts every other day. Things have been relatively quiet here. Ryland is sick (as well as L & T but that's allergies). He has had a high fever for the last 3 days which means waking up in the middle of the night several times...fun. We went to the doc today and they took blood but the results won't be in until tomorrow so prayers would be much appreciated for a positive outcome. He's really miserable, probably worse than I have ever seen him but he still manages to give a big 4 tooth grin when you look his way.

The boys have been busily working at getting into my hair. They have been very successful! Next week they will be attending an exercise program geared towards their age group. I'm looking forward to it even though it's just an hour on tuesday and thursday. I think that they will have fun. They are also enrolled in a fun sports program that teaches kids about the different sports and also promotes good sportsmanship which is especially important for my little L who thinks that you shouldn't play unless you're sure to win.

I'm busy working on the Newsletter for a group that I belong to. I made a deadline for myself of wednesday and have yet to finish it. I only have one more page left but finding the time to do it with a clingy baby has proved difficult. I've been in a rather blah mood lately since my last good friend is leaving the island on sunday. It's like deja vu from last year at this time. I know I'll be fine though. The Lord got me through it last year and He'll get me through the blah days again. When I look down the street there is nothing but empty houses on either side. It's the time of year for people to leave but I'm shocked at how many on just my street. I would say about 3/4 of the street is either leaving or have already left. Wild. We'll be the veterans on the street and we haven't been in the house for a year yet!

Here are a few websites that I wanted to share:

This one is great for the boys. They got to build their own fish and set them off into a tank. Tyler's got eaten by a shark! You should have seen Logan's face after that happened. You would have thought that something actually DID eat the "robot" fish.
http://www.virtualfishtank.com/

This is a science website where you can test specific topics. It's sort of a digital science project that you can perform online. I'm not much of a science fan but I really enjoyed this website.
http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/index.html

This final one has had a lot of hits from our computer since we found it. Not quite sure how they get away with it and we feel a little bit guilty (well I do, Chris doesn't!) for partaking in it. You can actually watch movies online without having to download anything....even movies that are in theaters now!
http://www.watch-movies.net/

The Next Food Network Stars

Chris is having a function tomorrow and I needed to make something for it. Thanks to my friend, Rebecca with her snickerdoodle blog, I was inspired to make those. YUM! The boys helped in the entire process. They're naturals!

Exploring Guam

Yesterday we went on a road trip around the southern part of the island. Everyone had their caraboas out for a stroll. We even saw a goat and a couple cows...one of which was ready to stampede my friend Theresa who came with us!

Fort Soledad

Ready for some pirate action!

Weird News Wednesday (For Dave Lang!)

Kiss Army's Newest Member: Condoleezza Rice
The Kiss Army fan club has an enthusiastic new recruit; the secretary of state met the band in Sweden during a conference on Iraq.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/30/international/i041715D42.DTL

Water summers for?

Squirt guns, slip n slides and beach days!