Survivor: Lake Cumberland 2010

I may be jumping the gun a bit here ad maybe tooting my own horn, but I should probably go into event planning of some kind. I've only technically "planned" one event and even then I flew by the seat of my pants at times (idioms, anyone?); however, I'm pretty sure everything turned out great and everyone had a lot of fun.

Last week, the fam embarked on our annual houseboat vacation on Lake Cumberland. It was the usual suspects: Mom, Frank, me, Chandler, Jacob, Kristen, Travis, and Collier; along with some new fish bait: Aunt Carol, Uncle Chris, Lucy, and our newest family member, Waverly. I pretty much look forward to this vacation from the day we leave the lake to the day we return the next year. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love any vacation; time stops, we spend a lot of time with family, and Wave and I get to spend a whole uninterrupted week with Chandler. But being at the lake for the week is completely stress free and relaxing. There's no where to go and no need to dress up or wear makeup (gasp!) and if you know me, I never leave the house without makeup.

With a baby, it's a lot more difficult to pack for any trip, whether it be for a week long vacation or for an hour at the grocery, so I started mentally preparing and making lists a few weeks in advance. When all was said and done, 80% of everything we packed into two cars ended up belonging to Waverly; the other 20% belonged to the 8 other people. Basically, even if I wanted to pack my makeup, it would have been impossible. Up until the last minute, I scrambled to get everything together and we headed out Monday afternoon.

But this wasn't going to be the typical houseboat; this was Survivor: Lake Cumberland 2010. The idea was born a month prior to the trip. I received a Facebook message from my mom with the idea and from there we took off with it. This is where I think I should be an event planner...

Chandler and I made this using a pillow case & fabric markers and I will brag about it bc it's just awesome.

We divided the 10 adults into two teams and every day there would be two challenges: a physical, team challenge and an individual, mental challenge. The losing team of the team challenge went to tribal council to vote one member off and the loser of the mental challenge was automatically voted off for a total of two people each day. This isn't exactly how it all happened; thus flying by the seats of our pants.

Hidden on the houseboat was an immunity idol; the most tacky, ridiculous-looking statue-thing anyone has ever seen. Our captain, the State Dock employee who drives us out of the marina, was quite a sport and hid the idol for us. The rule concerning this idol was: If you find it, don't tell anyone because they can take it from you. If you deemed it necessary to use the idol, you were required to present it at tribal council before the votes were read. So, of course, everyone looked for the idol all week. We had our suspicions and tried to trick the truth out of the suspects. As it turns out, "the boys", Collier, Jacob, and Travis, found the idol almost immediately and hid it again. From there, it was total drama. Jacob and Travis re-hid the idol so Collier wouldn't know. Jacob, on my team, let me in on this little secret and when tribal council rolled around that evening (my team, for the third time, was on the block), Jacob, Travis, and I were the final teammates remaining and had to vote one of us off. Previous to tribal council, Jacob told me where the idol was so I could save myself and we could vote Travis off; blood is thicker than water, right?

When all was said and done, Jacob, Chandler, and I were the final three remaining on Friday morning and Chandler was voted as the winner! Below are some photos from the week:

Love this kid

How silly of me to think Waverly was going to take a nap! This is what I found after laying her down ten minutes prior.

All Things Baby Food

I'd never given much thought before to making my own baby food, but a couple of school semesters ago, I was inspired by a friend of mine who was talking about making sweet potato puree for her son. She talked about how much cheaper it was to make baby food than to buy it and she actually enjoyed the process. I wasn't even pregnant at the time of the conversation, but when Dr. Ramsey gave us the okay to feed Waverly solids, I started to do a little research of my own. Here's what I know...

Gerber 1st Foods Vegetables are roughly $0.26 per ounce. There are 2.5 ounces per cup of food.

I bought a 16 ounce bag of frozen green beans for $0.98; $0.06 per ounce. Follow?

Waverly eats approximately an ounce a meal.

Over time we can save some big bucks on this baby food!

Not only is it cheaper to make baby food, it's quite therapeutic and I may or may not be slightly addicted. There is something very satisfying in making Waverly's food, knowing that I'm saving us money, and giving her all of the nutrient goodness without preservatives  and additives.

There is one good-sized cost in the beginning and that is in purchasing a food processor or whatever you choose to use to puree the food. However, it just worked out for me that my mom had a processor she was willing to give us! I mean, the 1970's called and want their processor back, but I didn't pay for and it works just fine. Even if you did have to buy your own, it would be worth the investment in the long run.

What else do I know? Waverly likes peas.