Don't throw away your plastic!

Recently I have seen lots of news stories flying around raising concerns about the safety of plastic products that contain Bisphenol A (BPA). I did some research on the subject and found two sources of information that put an end to the debate for me.

One
The FDA released the following statement on April 28, 2008.

Based on our ongoing review, we believe there is a large body of evidence that indicates that FDA-regulated products containing BPA currently on the market are safe and that exposure levels to BPA from food contact materials, including for infants and children, are below those that may cause health effects. However, we will continue to consider new research and information as they become available.

Click here for the full statement. http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/bpa.html
Two
An article written by Steve Milloy from the Fox News explains that the source of the scare is from the junk science of activists, media hype and greedy class action lawyers.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354616,00.html

My 2 cents:
I think we need to more afraid of the damage caused junk science, media hype and greedy class action lawyers than BPA. Instead of spending money on replacing all your plastic products that contain BPA, use that money and buy John Stossel's book Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel - Why Everything You Know is Wrong. This book is the Bible of Common Sense and teaches why you can't believe everything you see or hear in the news.


Aaron

Elizabeth's big day

Elizabeth celebrated her eighth birthday this week. On Saturday she enjoyed having seven friends over for an American Girl Spa party. It was all girl. The girls had facials, pedicures, manicures, and fixed their doll's hair. Our friend Alisha Jeppesen came over from Toledo with her daughter and one of Elizabeth's cousin and helped me with the party. The girls were so fun to watch. The funniest part had to be the facials. The girls thought it was so funny they were putting yogurt, oatmeal, and cucumbers on their faces. The instructions said to leave it on for 15 minutes, but I don't think any of them made it longer than the minute it took to take a picture!

Elizabeth enjoying a facial!

Last night we had our family party and Elizabeth had her favorite dinner...tilapia with couscous. I don't think there's too many kids who would chose that, but she loves it! Her favorite gift was a pink Nintendo DS lite. Now she's excited to take it on the bus and be able to chat with Justin. She's not been very interested in video games ever, but she seems to be very excited about her DS.


Elizabeth will be getting baptized on May 24th. We are looking forward to sharing this event with many of her family and friends. She is such a sweet girl. Sweet, but bossy. She's also a very good helper. Madelyn loves her big sister because Elizabeth is always carrying her around. Aaron had to take a picture of her with Madelyn on her hip while we were at the Children's Museum in Indy. They were watching the carousel while we waited for our turn.

These are a few of her favorite things:

• Perler beads
• American Girl Dolls
• Crafts
• Telling her teacher at school everything that happens in our family
• Shopping with Mom
• Scrapbooking
• Fighting with Justin
• Organizing family parties

We love you, Elizabeth!

Happy Birthday, Madelyn!

On April 12th we celebrated Madelyn's first birthday. This is always such a sad day for me; I'd like to keep them little forever! Because this is not possible, I guess we'll just have to enjoy her growing up and celebrate all of her milestones. We just love our little Madelyn. She gets so much attention from everyone and seems to love all of it. Here is a little trivia about our little princess:

Size: 28 inches, 18 pounds, 7 ounces (still a peanut!)
Favorite food: just about anything right now, but milk is probably her favorite
Biggest accomplishment: stopped sucking her thumb (She had to have her thumb wrapped a few weeks ago because it was drying out and getting yucky. It was wrapped for four days and she hasn't sucked it since!)
# of teeth: 6 (4 up, 2 down)
Mode of transportation: crawling or cruising along furniture
Language: waving, clapping, nodding yes, Mama, Dadda, uh-oh
Favorite game: hide and seek, emptying the pantry shelves, peek-a-boo
Favorite activities: Riding in wagon, playing with dog Buddy, being outside, being with family
Least favorite activity: Riding in car seat, getting diaper changed
Personality: Playful

We love you Madelyn!

Spring Break

Kids' playscape

Zoo playground

Petting sharks

Our family enjoyed a few days in Indianapolis for Spring Break. It was great to have Aaron off work and spend time together. We stayed at the Embassy Suites hotel. We had a suite so we had two bedrooms. The kids thought this was pretty great. Elizabeth went up with Aaron to unload the luggage and was very impressed. When we all went up to the room she whispered to Justin, "welcome to the good life!" We don't know where this came from, but we thought it was pretty funny.

We went to the zoo on Thursday. The big hit at the zoo was the "petting pool" they have for sharks that are about 2-3 feet long. We had to go back a second time because Will and Elizabeth decided they would try to pet them. The kids loved it. Friday we spent all day at the Children's Museum. It's the largest one in the world and was so much fun. Here are some of the exhibits we saw: dinosaurs, trains, robots, Curious George, a play of Frog and Toad, and a glass exhibit. There was so much more. In fact, we didn't even stop for lunch and no one seemed to mind. We left when the museum closed at five. Bruce crashed as soon as he got to the car and slept right through dinner! Saturday we did a little shopping and came home. It was a short, but very needed getaway for our family.

Ed Com Expo

Chaz, Justin, and Mrs. Ringle

Chaz and Justin's presentation

"Opening Ceremonies"

Justin participated in the Warsaw Ed Com Expo on Saturday at the High School. His third grade class combined with a fourth grade class (he's in a multi-grade class at school) and did a presentation on Unsolved Mysteries of the Earth. The two teachers did an excellent job with the students and had a great presentation. We were shocked because Justin hasn't said too much about it at home, but had all of his lines memorized and his presentation was awesome. The whole class did great. Apparently, these two teachers have a great reputation and their classes always do well at Ed Com. Justin and his partner did their presentation on Crop Circles.

Easter 2008

Easter was great! We had lots of family, food and fun. It just doesn't get any better. Aaron's parents and two of his siblings and their families came over on Friday night and we had our Easter dinner Saturday afternoon before they headed back to Ohio. The kids were so happy to have some of their cousins here for two Easter Egg hunts on Saturday. Saturday morning we went to the Zimmer Easter party. This is where the balloons and face painting pictures came from.

Then the Dog ate the snowman

Our beautiful snowman only lasted a day before our dog (Buddy) decided to attack. I am glad we took a photo right after we finished because there wasn't much evidence left after Buddy finished. He knocked the head off and then chewed up all the wooden pieces used for his face, crown and buttons. Our neighbors stopped while they were out for a walk several days after and reported they saw the dog in his murderous act. They thought it was so cute and funny. Given that the Buddy has chewed up so many items around the house I wasn't really laughing.

Quick list of Buddy's chew toys.
- Aaron's Ohio State Yard sign
- Justin's lego Christmas gift (almost killed the dog for that one.)
- Two of the kids bicycle helmets
- Kids gloves
- UPS packages
- Salt bags delivered for the water softener
- Gel knee pads
- Kids sandbox toys
- Kids shoes and sandals that get left outside
- More kids shoes and sandals that were left outside
- And did I mention many kids shoes and sandals that have been left outside

Now that Buddy is a year old we are hoping that he quickly outgrows his desire to kill snowmen and anything he finds outside or in the garage.