The life cycle of a freezer box in the Smith house

 When we got back from our trip to California this summer we noticed that the ice cream cones in the freezer down stairs were soft. We thought that we had gotten a bad batch. That weekend we got 3 big boxes of amazingly yummy peaches that we wanted to freeze some to enjoy for months. We started freezing them, but after a night in the freezer they weren't totally frozen.
And then it hit us-it wasn't a bad batch of ice cream cones, or an overcrowded freezer-our freezer of 6 years was dying. It didn't have the long life we had hoped for when we bought it and it was time to replace it.


Once we got the new bigger freezer, we had a HUGE cardboard box sitting in the garage to put out in the recycling.

With our kids we had a feeling that the box wouldn't sit idle for long, and we were right. They asked if they could have it. After getting the go ahead from us, they got to work deciding what to make out of it.

 The 1st thing they thought of was making it into a CARDBOARD HOUSE. They talked about how they would make it and went out to work on it.

Before it could get made into a house it got smashed down and drug across the street to Joe's house by Corrine & Joe to be used as a a SLIDE.

With 3 kids sliding down it, it got too short, so it got cut it open and made it an even LONGER SLIDE. Corrine, Joe & Rebecca slid down the slide over and over giggling.

 A few days later Simeon & Joe decided to use it for TARGET PRACTICE with their sticks and it got full of holes.

Corrine wasn't very happy that her slide was now full of holes and fast anymore.

The kids started thinking what they could do with it.. They got duct tape out and taped it back together and made it into a TUBE to roll down the hill in

They tried having 5 kids in it, but they found out quickly that there were too many arms, legs, hands, feet and heads rolling close together. They decided that 4 or less kids was a better amount of body parts rolling over and on each other!They'd crawling in it back up the hill to take another tumble down. It started to look like a giant tread on a tank.

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After a week of fun with the box it got recycled and sent onto bigger and better things. Who knows it may end up back in our lives again in a different form!

Funny thing-the box never made it into the original plan for it-a cardboard house.

My Roman soldier in shinning armor

Ammon told me that he was NOT a knight, but rather a Roman Soldier. So my title had to undergo a change from "My knight in shining armor" to "My Roman Soldier in Shinning armor" which really doesn't flow as smoothly-but it's what he really was!


I was taking some up close pictures of Ammon when the light caught the chain mail and it started shinning in the camera and then reflecting up onto his face. So he really was My Roman Soldier in "Shinning Armor"!

Today when Ammon put this Narnia costume on I knew I had to take pictures-LOTS of pictures. My little guy is sadly outgrowing this wonderful costume, and the next time he goes to put it on, it may not fit. That will be a sad day for me.

For years the 3 older kids have loved the Narnia books and movies. They would act out scenes from the stories all the time. Since we didn't have a Lucy, a doll would be the stand in. Now we have our sweet brown haired Lucy to fill the missing roll, but the kids have lost the Narnia vibe. That is until the 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' comes out in a few weeks!!

Ammon was being his sweet happy self this afternoon and let me sit it the middle of his jousting tournament to document it. After a few passes his jousting stick suffered heavy damage from the deck so he moved on to the skill portion of the day, then the hand to hand combat with the grass.

JOUSTING

Disclaimer-The photographer was not injured while taking these pictures, even though she felt the jousting stick very near more then once!



Fixing his jousting stick after it met the deck and split.

Skill Training-

Somersault and pick your knife up off the grass. This must be done just right or the soldier must practice again and again.

Hand to Hand Combat-




Cleaning the dirt off his knife (Zhu Zhu pet armor plastic knife-if your worried that I'd let him have a real one.) because a soldier knife must always stay in good shape.
In this picture you can actually see the shinning of his armor on his cheek.

I love the days where his imagination takes him to far away places on journeys that his heart longs for. My little Ammon is growing up, too fast I might add. I hope his imagination always stays with him and that he can take himself to far away places forever.