Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for clouds in the desert
I am thankful for the health of myself & family
I am thankful for dirty dishes, that means I have a family and we have food to eat
I am thankful for fingerprints on my sliding glass door because they come from my children, sometimes there is drool from the dog too :)
I am thankful for rest at the end of a event filled day
I am thankful for Thursday because it's followed by Friday and TGIF!
I'm thankful for the holiday weekend and 3 days with family
I'm thankful for the trust earned from my daughter that she can share most anything with me
I'm thankful for the overtime my husband is working, not for the money but rather because he's got a healthy body that can do the work
I'm thankful for all the love from family and friends!

Just received this from Michelle. Thank you Michelle, you were my original inspiration for beginning a blog! The Nice Matters Award is given for, “This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award.”
I haven't visited many Blogs yet other than Michelle's & Donetta's mostly. I would like to say right back at you ladies you both deserve the "Nice Matters Award"

Thankful for the tickets we have

My husband took a shot at the tickets on Saturday. There were NO 4 tickets available together at all. So now we are just thankful to have tickets. This girl, Miley Cyrus is one popular little lady!
We watched some of the "Teen Choice Awards" last night. Miley Cyrus received the "Favorite TV Comedy Actress" award. She was so genuinely excited to receive the award and thanked fans and praised God for putting her there and she said He has blessed her with such great family and friends. She left the stage saying God Bless. This young lady is so upbeat and happy and I'm so glad that young girls have her as a role model to look up to.

My Daughter's First Concert

My daughter LOVES the show "Hannah Montana". The star of the show is Miley Cyrus, along with her Dad, Billy Ray. This is a really cute show for her age group. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Hannah Montana is a Pop star by night and a normal 9th grader named Miley by day. She conceals her identity so that she will be treated like all the other kids. Only those closest to her, her best friend Lily and another friend Oliver know her true identity.
I have heard that Miley and Billy Ray are also Christians. Their family is close-nit and I pray they will keep Miley grounded as she is growing up and becoming so hugely popular.
She toured last year with the Cheetah Girls, another Disney made group as Hannah Montana. Miley Cyrus in her own right is also a singer/song writer. Her upcoming tour will now be Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus which will give her the opportunity to express her own style, not just the one Disney has created for her.
My daughter heard about the upcoming concert and wanted to go badly. Never having been to a concert before, she dreamed of front row seats. Now mind you most of the people in the audience will be 8-11 year old girls plus I'm guessing their Moms. She had already selected a friend to go along. Naturally myself and the other Mom, a friend of mine, will be in tow at all times. So on Tuesday when the presale tickets went on sale (to members of "Miley's World") I was online right at 10:00. I had already prepared my daughter by telling her it isn't easy to get tickets close up, it's more like winning a contest. I had high hopes though none the less. So I punched in the info. at ticketmaster.com and low and behold what was my return? Nothing on the floor, AAA, BBB, CCC were not even coming up. This was the first minute! How could this be? So what do I do, I try again, BIG MISTAKE! We went from lower level to upper level! This was now within the first 10 min. or less. Oh great, now you blew it I thought. I was so hard on myself thinking I have let my little girl down...... I went ahead and purchased the tickets. One way to look at it, they weren't behind the stage. They were almost directly in front, just as far back as you could get, row N I'm hoping there is still O-Z behind us. So after being upset with myself for most of Tuesday, my daughter got home from school and I gave her the news. She took it pretty well actually. I also promised that I would try again when the seats go on sale to the general public. This was my own suggestion. I know very well that I will have no problem passing on these tickets to someone else, at face value, if I do in fact succeed. Tomorrow is the day to try again. I just want this concert to be special, I know how much it means to her. I'd like her to at least be close enough not to have to use binoculars! My dear friend had a solution, she said why not buy a 12 person suite, it's only $1800 and you'll probably even be served food. All joking of course, right? :)
So this story is to be continued........

Profound moments at the Carousel

This morning I was meeting a friend at the Mall to walk before store hours. We said we'd meet at the Carousel in the Food Court. As I waited, I thought about the Carousel, the Mall wasn't buzzing with people yet. I thought about how beautiful each of the horses were. It gave me time to think about which one was I most like. I know that sounds crazy, I just walked around it to see hmmmmmm which one would I choose. I found one! The mane was flowing and the body of it had roses on it. It looked a little like it had a slightly untamed, wild side :) Then my thoughts drifted to my children. How many times had they rode that carousel? How young were they? What were my earliest memories of their ride. Then I thought how fast they are growing up! How their days of riding the carousel will come to an end someday. Then it will become "embarrassing" to be seen on it. You know how kids think as they get older. What if so and so sees me. How I wish they never worried about what so and so thought! Be a kid as long as you can. I thought about the times when we said we didn't have the time or I didn't have the change and that made me sad..... So I bought each of them a token for the carousel, no excuses! The next time we go to the mall we will make time to ride on the carousel before we miss the chance. Children are only little and want to ride the carousel for a season.

Flashlight Hide and Seek and other Saturday stuff....

Yesterday my daughter had her first Basketball game of the season. They won! Yeah :) Her coach this year seems great, they usually are. She's a southern gal that LOVES the game and gets very involved. We actually play through a local Christian Church. They have a sports ministry that offers lots of sports opportunities through the year. My son played Baseball recently, he wants to do Basketball but he'll have to wait til next year. It is a positive and encouraging environment for young kids to get involved with. They sure don't mind winning, but they aren't sore losers either. They begin each game with a prayer and end by congratulating the wining team. In fact their practice includes a small lesson from the Bible. This past week they talked about respect.

After the game my daughter and I went to have a manicure. It was a spur of the moment thing. She was so excited to get a french manicure for the first time this time. Her nails look marvelous and they are her own! I had had tips on my nails and they have finally gotten strong enough and to a decent length that I could have mine done as well. I love my cute flowers! See photo.

Later that night we played Flashlight Hide and Seek. It was a lot of fun. We stayed upstairs to make it easier. Then we took a short break and made insects and animals on the wall with our hands and a flashlight. These moments with the kids are so precious!

Please Leave your comments and let me know you visited

I believe I successfully changed my settings that anyone can comment on my Blog. It used to be that only "registered Blog users" could comment. Please leave me your comments if you come for a visit and have anything to say in response. Let me know if you are unable to comment. Thanks :)

High School Musical 2 Tonight

In case you are not the parent of a "Tween" I will fill you in that tonight is the premier of High School Musical 2. This has been long awaited by tweens everywhere. My daughter is so excited about the premier of this movie. She and a friend are getting together to watch it tonight. I must admit, I too am looking forward to it. The first one was awesome, I hope the 2nd will be just as good. I enjoy watching these movies with my daughter. We enjoy watching Hannah Montana together as well, Zack and Cody too. I cherish the time we are still able to share together where it's still cool for Mom to be around :)
This movie has been compared to Grease which was a big movie when I was about my daughters age. If you aren't familiar with High School Musical I encourage you to watch it if you have the opportunity then follow with HSM 2.
We have our High School Musical plates and napkins ready for tonight. We'll be serving pizza and eating popcorn!
I will also post a "You Tube" for High School Musical 2 if you'd like to see it.

Twinject Training

Yesterday I had an appointment with our school Nurse. It was suggested that I come in to train the staff how to use my son's "twinject pen". It is much like an "Epipen" but has two doses of Epinephrine rather than one. I had called our allergist's office the day prior. It was offered to me to have the "Twinject" Rep come and speak to our school staff. How cool that would be! Ok sure fine with me, how about tomorrow (meaning yesterday) at 2:30? No problem, well that was great. I was really going to raise awareness about life threatening food allergies now!
Our meeting yesterday went great. In fact my babysitter came along as well. My daughter was present as well as my son's teacher and the Nurse's office staff. Two gentleman came rather than one. They showed us a quick DVD, informed us of the difference between the Epipen and the Twinject, gave us coupons to get free Twinject pens, with a prescription of course..... gave everyone training using a demo pen. One of the people present made the comment to my son that "this is all for you!" Don't you feel special kind of thing. It was great and I'm feeling much more confident knowing that I have raised some awareness. I feel my son will be safe in his school. We all made the comment that we hope never to have to use the product. The reps said yes we hope our product will be one that you dispose of most, unused. Thankfully we've never had a situation that I have had to use it!
When my son was just under 2 years old he had his first taste of cashews. His lips look a little red, sadly I attributed it to the salt. I had no idea what a food allergy looked like. When his lip started blowing up to proportions I thought it was incapable I immediately called for help. We had paramedics at our home in a matter of minutes. He then developed hives. At that time his hair was very blond and his little body turned so red up against that blond hair it looked extreme. He was transported to the hospital and given epinephrine in transit. Once there we had a team of medical personnel surrounding him. His symptoms began to subside, but were still present. We were told he would need to be hospitalized over night so that they could keep watch over him. The hospital he'd been transported to could not accept children over night. The nearest hospital was full. The next option was to air lift him to the next major city. It was only 30 minutes away, but this was during rush hour. So we were airlifted and stayed overnight. I had quite a sleepless night that night keeping watch, I had never experienced anything quite like this before. My husband brought our daughter home and stayed with her that night. I watched my son's symptoms disappear overnight. We then became more educated about food allergies and went in for skin testing. He in fact was allergic to tree nuts. If he were to ingest them it could cause an anaphylaxis reaction which is exactly what he had. Now every year we go to the Allergist to be retested in hopes he'll out grown it. Each year the degree of sensitivity seems to change. We have done "food challenges" where a tiny amount of the allergen is given in a controlled situation. Usually this involves spending many hours in the Doctors office. I'm thankful that she is so attentive to our situation though. If you'd like more info. about "Twinject" you can click on the title of my post and you will be linked to the website.

My Husband the other great Photographer :)

This beautiful picture was taken by my husband. This is from our catamaran trip we took in San Francisco. This is one of my favorite photos he took from our trip.

Back to School..... and other thoughts

On Monday not only did my daughter go back to school, but my son went to school for the first time! This was a big change for me this year. For 2 hours and 45 minutes I am alone. What to do during that time? I am still trying to figure out the best way to budget my time wisely.

Both kids are enjoying school I am happy to report. The first day was a little bumpy for my little guy. He went into class without a hitch, all was well. At about 9:45 the nurse's office called to tell me he was there. He had thrown up! We have been having a heat advisory so I attribute it to a combo of the heat and maybe some first day jitters. They had gone outside to play for a little while, he plays pretty hard. He appeared calm and well on the outside when I dropped him off, but who knows how he felt on the inside. He may have been a little nervous. So we came home early on the first day. Yesterday was great, he went, he stayed, he had a good time!

My Time -Now back to me and what to do with my time. I have thought it is a good time to get those not so fun things done during this time. I want to have quality time with my son when he gets home. I also feel it's a good time for me to rejuvenate, great time to catch up with a friend on the phone. I have made plans with my dear friend from "A Life Uncommon" Blog to go walking at the mall on Monday. We both agree that some exercise would benefit us. I had been walking daily or doing water aerobics. The heat got to be too much and none the water aerobics classes are over. We've even gone on to make a date for Wednesday too! We are penciling in for the following week. I think that will be great to get out and walk in the nice cool mall with a dear friend. Our husbands will be happy to know we are going before the stores open and will leave, due to my need to pick up my son, just as the stores open :)

Food Allergy -I have been having some worries about my son's food allergy at school. I keep letting go and giving it to God, then I worry and I have to give it back to Him again. I know God wants to take care of my son when He's out of my sight, after all he's always watching over him. It has made me nervous to think all the people he will come in contact with, that may not know of his Tree Nut allergy, or what to avoid or how to handle an anaphylaxis reaction. He has to have a Epinephrine pen nearby always. Thank God we've never had to use it. I pray we never will, and that he out grows his allergy. I have been busy making up picture cards showing my son and his allergy, the possible symptoms....per the nurses request, so each place he may be will be informed. There's the library, gym class, art, music.....I cannot let worry get the best of me. My son is a smart little boy and has been educated about his allergy and it's severity. A friend told me this may be my journey to help others be more aware. I am noticing there is a lack of resources as for creating cards as I did. They have cards to bring to restaurants and over seas but I couldn't find any for school. I will educated myself as well as others on this journey to bring awareness of food allergies.

Thoughts for the day

~Ever notice that the people who are late
are often much jollier
than the people who have to wait for them?

~We could learn a lot from crayons:
some are sharp, some are pretty,
some are dull, some have weird names,
and all are different colors....but
they all exist very nicely in the same box.

These Sea Lions were at Fisherman's Wharf. They had taken over quite a few of the docks. I have photos where there were many to a dock but this area was less populated. It was pretty funny to watch them. Especially this group, each time one would climb up, the dominated one of that particular dock would bark at him and fight with him to get off! They were hilarious to watch. This was our entertainment as we waited for the 1:00 Catamaran.

San Francisco Photo

Here is my husband and I courtesy of one of our budding photographers, my daughter. My kids were constantly asking to borrow MY camera. What about Dad's? Even though they have cameras of their own, I guess Mom's is cooler. It was pretty foggy, cool and windy here. Not to be vain at all, but my hair was pretty unruly for the whole trip. The climate did not agree with it. I joked about how you could watch my hair change before your eyes from straight to curly and wild! Yet each day I'd straighten it out again in hopes of it remaining, no I didn't waste too much time on it. Pretty funny :)

We're Back!

We arrived home Saturday evening just after 5 PM. On Thursday we did spend more time in the San Francisco area. We went on a Catamaran out past Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a much better option than that of the ferry packed liked sardines. It was actually the same price as it's crowded competitor too! It was beautiful out on the water. We had an awesome view of everything. There was netting that the kids could sit on. My son particularly loved it. He occasionally got a little damp from the water just below. Afterwards we attempted to go for a ride on the cable cars but the line was way to long for our patience. I was a little disappointed, but the catamaran was a "new" experience as well as a "new" memory I could have. We went to the Alamo Square area where the most photographed Victorians in the area were. They were really beautifully preserved from the outer appearance. Then our final destination was the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove across then back again and headed back south. The next two days that would follow would mostly be driving with not a whole lot of activities. They were pleasant and we made an occasional stop to stretch our legs. We tried not to make each day to long for the kids. They did fairly well, they are good travelers and learned young.
Tomorrow is the first day of school! My daughter will be going into the 6Th grade. My son is going to an early learners program at her school. It will be the same hours as the half day kindergarten. They will have library, PE, music and art as their older counterparts as well as doing age appropriate learning. It is only for 2 hours and 45 minutes per day. I feel that my son will really enjoy this. He is looking forward to starting school. There is a little girl he's known since birth in the same class! I will miss him not being at home even for that short of time. He truly LOVES being around other children though, so for the most part, it would only be my selfishness and fear that would keep him at home. The school is awesome, they foster a love of reading and writing and story telling, he'll be fine, I on the other hand..... I'll be OK, give me time :)

Wednesday

After leaving the city of Santa Cruz this morning, we went to the Santa Cruz Mountains to visit Big Basin Redwoods State Park. There were some pretty huge Redwood trees there. Some had been damaged by lightning. It was amazing to see one that was called "chimney tree", this particular tree was actually hollow from base to top. It was still alive and thriving. They say that after several successive fires over the years ignited the tree's heartwood, this burning eventually created a perfect flute/chimney effect. The tallest of the trees named "Mother-of-the-Forest" was the tallest tree at 329 foot.
After our visit to Big Basin we headed to San Francisco. I have memories of visiting San Francisco as a child. Some of my fondest memories were made there. My Dad would take me on the cable cars over and over again, I loved it. I remember going to China Town and getting beautiful beaded slippers because my feet were so tired of walking. My daughter wore them when she was little. There was a wax museum on Fisherman's wharf I was fascinated with. We never actually went in, but the talking wax wizard out front amazed me with his true to life characteristics. Now the main attraction out front is the wax figure of Barry Bonds. We got settled into our hotel and walked around Fisherman's wharf. I didn't remember the city being so busy, as a child your parents shoulder those burdens. Parking is very difficult, space is limited. We had to leave our car in a parking garage across from the hotel. The trolley of F-line streetcar seem to be popular forms of transportation besides just hoofing it. We mainly just checked things out on Fisherman's wharf looking at the tourist shops, passing some seafood markets, looking at the possibility of visiting Alcatraz in the morning. We went into a fun place that housed games of the past you could still play. I found a clown I remember playing with as a little girl. You could make him dance to music by controlling his arms and feet. My children enjoyed playing with him. We will continue exploring San Francisco. I hope to go to China Town, to see some beautiful Victorian Houses at Alamo Square, take a drive down Lombard street, also known as the most crooked road.....

What we've been up to Sunday - Tuesday

After leaving Pasadena/Hollywood we began our trek up the coast. On Sunday we spent quite a bit of time in Santa Barbara. It is a beautiful city. They were having an Art Festival which is usually hard for me to pass up. We also went to the Sea Center on the pier, the kids enjoyed some hands on fun there. We took pictures of the kids on the street named after our own last name. There was a skate park on the beach. My son thought you could just wait in line to get in and use the next skateboard available. He thought it was pretty cool. That night we spent the night in Pismo Beach at a hotel on the water. It was actually situated near a cliff overlooking the beach. Going here reminded me that as a little girl we had a bumper sticker that said "Where the H--L is Pismo?" not sure why we had it? I know we had visited California, not sure if we ever found Pismo. The next morning, Monday, we took the kids to Pismo Beach to play in the sand. It was pretty chilly in the AM. They found some shell fragments. My daughter found a live sand dollar! It was a real thrill for her to have found it. We didn't keep it though, obviously wouldn't be a good idea, and it was a live creature. That began a series of beach explorations. As we headed up the coast we stopped at many beaches on Monday. We saw Elephant seals, many starfish, and sea anemones. We passed Hearst Castle, we didn't feel the need to stop in this time. I did take a photograph of it from a far. We wanted to progress on to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. We saw photographs that promised a waterfall spilling out onto a beach of blue/green water. We had to do a small hike but we did see the waterfall. What a beautiful place that was! (SEE PHOTO) On Monday night we planned to spend the night in Monterey. There weren't hardly any rooms. We weren't being too picky, so we ended up in Watsonville about 30 minutes away. It was a bit stressful but we ended up at a really nice Holiday Inn Express. They even had my flavored creamer for my coffee in the morning! This morning we had to back track a bit to Monterey. My husband had heard the Aquarium there was one of the best in the country. I can now validate that, it was beautiful. I especially loved all the different types of jelly fish. I never realized how many there were. It was a photographers paradise, even my daughter begged to borrow the camera. She is needed a new camera, so she didn't have one with her this trip. The sea otters and penquins were so adorable. I could watch them for hours. Afterwards we walked around cannery row a bit. This area of Monterey had once been sardine factories. We enjoyed an early dinner, seafood of course. I had the blackened snapper which was wonderful. My husband had a tropical mahi mahi he enjoyed. The kids shared a pizza, their palates aren't quite ready for the fish. After we left Monterey we went to Santa Cruz. It only took us about an hour to get here. We came here for the boardwalk where they have roller coasters and all kinds of rides. We went down in the evening and stayed til closing. It's getting pretty late now, not even Tuesday anymore! Now today, Wednesday, we will head further north to San Francisco. We have hopes of seeing some Redwoods along the way. We have chosen to take Sequoia National park out of our plans this trip. We can always see it on a trip to Yosemite. We don't want to push our self to much and not have a enjoyable time. More of our adventure to come as time permits. I'll have to post the photos another time, I need to rest up for our next day of adventure.

Hollywood Here we come

We left this morning for our California Adventure. We are spending our first night in Pasadena. We thought we'd play star seeking tourists just for today. We went to Hollywood to see Grauman's Chinese Theater. We saw the foot steps of John Wayne, Mel Gibson and one of my childhood favorites, Shirley Temple. My son's hands are the same size Shirley's were in 1935. We walked the Walk of Fame and saw the stars of Robin Williams, Amy Grant, Sting, Kevin Costner etc.. We saw some pretty interesting "characters" along the way also. People dress up as characters for money. If you pose with them you tip them. We saw a couple of Jack Sparrows, Darth Vadar with a storm trooper, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz etc...
We also went to Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive. There are some BEAUTIFUL homes in Beverly Hills! Didn't come across the Beverly Hillbillys, remember them? Don't know if we were in Beverly Hills 90210, there is probably more than one zip code. We joked with each other claiming to have seen Kevin Costner in the car beside us. Wasn't that Paris Hilton shopping on Rodeo Drive?
So our day is done, we've had our fun, tommorrow is another day. Of course I took pictures, but it's too late to post them. I will post them soon.

More Sweet Potatoes Y'all

*What's Good for You
Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta-carotene, which is good for kids' vision. It can help them see better in the dark — so maybe they'll sneak down after bedtime for another mini-muffin. hehe

Mini-muffins make a good midday snack — loaded with fiber, they help kids feel full, which just may keep them away from the junk food.

Sweet Potato Muffins
Makes 12 standard or 36 mini-muffins
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups mashed baked sweet potato (from 1 large potato)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Spray oil or butter for greasing muffin cups
7 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (one tablespoon cinnamon mixed with 6 tablespoons granulated sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a wooden spoon until creamy. Beat in sugars until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in milk, vanilla, and sweet potatoes (batter might look curdled). In a separate bowl, (your child) if you have one handy, can whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Beat together wet and dry mixtures until just combined. Grease muffin tin and fill each cup about halfway with batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake about 18 minutes (14 for mini-muffins), until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Fall Recipes Yum

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Butter

Serves 4

1/2 stick butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

4 medium sweet potatoes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If you have children, have your child smoosh together the first five ingredients with a rubber spatula in a bowl until well blended. Chill 10 minutes. Turn out onto waxed paper and, using the paper as an aid, roll the butter into a log about the size of a nickel. Wrap tightly in a new piece of waxed paper and refrigerate 1 hour or longer. Scrub potatoes and prick the skin all over with a fork. Bake on oven rack 45 to 60 minutes, until they're soft and easily pierced through the center with a paring knife. Serve each potato with two coin-sized slices of the butter.

In His image Photography - What's in the name?

I have been thinking about the name of my Blog. It's funny you don't see much "Photography" at my site lately do you? I guess this Blog is going through a season. Now it's more about the photographer rather than the photographs. When I started up this blog a couple years back, I didn't really put a lot of thought into the name as I should have. I guess I could have made it a bit shorter or more catchy. I knew how much God meant to me and that I'm His. That is how I came up with "Photo Daughter of the King" my post is "photo princess". Since we are all Daughters/Princesses, I thought it apropos. The name "In His Image" as I explain at the top, that it is about capturing God's creation in photographs. I am just so awe struck by the beauty of the sites in our country that we visit. I do also enjoy capturing my family and others on film. I do need to add more photos, so stay tuned. We'll be going on our "Vacation Adventure". I'm sure that I will take plenty of shots on the trip. So just in case you were wondering, where's the photography?

Decorating the Loft Studio

I am finally starting to plan out our "Loft Studio". I have many rubber stamps, papers and other craft supplies.... I'm itching to get back to my artistic endevers. My husband is also an awesome artist with so much talent. We can share this space. Not to mention the #1 love we share of Photography.
I saw a really nice hutch desk and chair with matching bookshelf I liked. This space will double as a space for a guest. We found this great "studio sofa" at Cost Plus World Market, the desk was actually found there as well. We bought the studio sofa on sale, but are still considering the desk. The Sofa has 3 positions, either completely flat for sleeping or one side down as in a chase or both sides up as a sofa. It's just the perfect size. I have added a couple of pillows that are a combo of blue, brown and copper. I also found matching drapes for the single window in the room. This was all Pier One merchandise found at Big Lots on clearance at 70% off. I LOVE a great deal. The walls will need to be painted, but I haven't chosen the color as of yet. We are still in the process of decorating our kids bathroom. It will be in a Beach/seashore theme. We've bought most of the decor and just need to find the time to paint. I am truly wanting to get settled into our new home ASAP.

New game to us....... Farkle

Last night we got together with Steve & Lisa. We had an enjoyable dinner and then played "Farkle". We really enjoyed it and I wanted to share the game and it's rules. It's so nice to share dinner with dear friends and games! I LOVE it, we don't do it as often as we should. It is my hope that we will get a good collection of games together and be able to do a more frequent "game night". This game was great for the kids too, that's important. Even though my little guy wasn't interested in playing last night. It was just that there were new and different toys to play with and the pull of that was greater. I know he will enjoy it too. My daughter enjoyed it very much. The following is the game & the rules. Enjoy!

Farkle
Needed: 6 dice, pencil, & paper and a shaker cup.


1. Any number of people can play. Teams of two or more can also play. Everyone should roll one die. The highest of the rollers goes first. Play is clockwise thereafter.
2. The first player rolls all 6 dice. Each player tries to accumulate and score points using various combinations of the dice. After every roll with scoring dice, the player has the option of "banking" the points or rolling again. In other words, you may gamble the points already accumulated on the table or quit your turn and record the points on paper.
3. Point values are as follows:

Ones are 100 points each.
Fives are 50 points each.
Three of kind is the number times 100 points. (i.e. Three fives rolled at once is 500 pts. and not 150 pts.)
Three Ones on one roll is 1,000 pts.
A straight (1-2-3-4-5-6) on ONE ROLL is worth 1,500 pts.
4. If a player continues to gamble the points and ends up using all of the dice to score, then he or she can choose once again to quit or go on. If you choose to go on, the player picks up all 6 dice and continues to add to the points "on the table."
5. If a player gambles and rolls a non-scoring combination of dice, that player "busted" or "farkled." He or she scores zero and passes the dice to the next player.
6. You MUST set aside at least one SCORING die on every roll to continue rolling.
7. When a player decides to stop and bank the points on paper, the next player has the option of starting all over with the six dice (and zero on the table) or starting with the dice the previous player chose NOT to play. If he or she chooses the latter, the points just banked are added to any scoring dice. If successful, you have just "piggybacked the points." The player who banks the points doesn't lose them.
8. The object of the game is to reach or exceed 10,000 points. (You may pick another target number.) When one player does go over 10,000 points, every other player gets one more chance to exceed that person. The winner then is the one with the highest number of points.