Halloween In Pictures (and a few words)

For school the Little Guy wanted to dress up as a Hawaiian tourist. I tried to talk him into the white sunscreen on his nose but apparently he has a strict "no makeup" policy.

The third time around being in charge of this guys Halloween Party. I'm glad he's not sick of me yet! 

 

Getting ready to go. My sweet little Dorothy and a spooky mummy.

She's terrified...can you tell?

And toto too!

 

By the end of the night he had almost come completely unwrapped despite my best efforts and sewing the bandages to him!

 

 

We had a fun neighborhood dinner with yummy soup, scones and lots of friends! 

Trick-or Treating at Grandma's house. 

(Notice his bandages already coming undone?)

We love our grandma! Plus, she gives out giant candy bars!!

Happy Halloween!

October VT Message...better late than never

So, I've had this little handout ready to go on my computer since the end of September, but the printer was out of ink and so it sat. Until now! I never really feel like my little camera does justice to these cute little handouts, but I do the best I can. Just know the little packages sitting on my table look both cute and tasty!

The October visiting teaching message this month, titled If We Do Not Doubt, focuses on the strength we can gain, as women and mother's by studying through the inspiring story of Helaman's Warriors. (See 53: 56-58) You can find the entire message here.

October is such a fun time to come up with little treats and clever ideas for your sisters. This month quotes from the message are printed inside the treat "bag" or maybe it should be called a treat tent. Either way, when my sisters open up their treat they'll be able to revisit the message. To put together your message cut a 12x12 cardstock grade paper in half. This cute polka dot print is a Making Memories paper I've had sitting around, with once good intentions, for just way too long. Make sure you place the paper in your printer so you won't be printing on the design side of your paper. Also, you'll need to set your printer to print on a 6x12 inch paper. You can do that in your print settings. Print this:

sorry these are jpeg this month instead of PDF files. I'm hoping you can make it work. The PDF files wouldn't save in a 6x12 format for me. Not sure, but probably a user error.

With an X-acto knife cut a square out of the front panel of the tent. Crease along the dotted lines. Fill sandwich sized ziplock bags with the Halloween Popcorn Mix (recipe below). And staple treat tent closed. Now, print and cut out these tags:

 And affix it to your tent with cute ribbon.

Have fun visiting your great sisters!

Halloween Popcorn Mix
1/2 c. popcorn kernels (Or 1 bag of microwave popcorn)
1 1/2 lbs. White Almond Bark
1 bag candy corn
1 bag Reeces Pieces

Pop your popcorn and put it in your biggest (I mean BIGGEST) mixing bowl you have. If you air pop your popcorn like I do you might want to add a little salt and butter (I use butter spray) after it's popped. You'll get a nice sweet and salty taste in the end. Add the candy corn and Reece's Pieces to the bowl. Meanwhile, melt the almond bark in the microwave for 90 seconds. If it requires more melting do so in 30 sec. increments until it's fully melted and smooth. Pour the melted almond bark over the popcorn mixture and stir until evenly coated. Spread the mixture onto tinfoil or wax paper and let cool. Once cooled break into smaller pieces and enjoy!

This is really so easy. If you've never used white almond bark before it's pretty much white chocolate. It melts quickly and is great for coating treats around the holidays. You can find it in the baking isle by the chocolate chips. You can also add peanuts, M&Ms, or any other kind of tasty thing you might like dipped in chocolate. This recipe makes more than you'll need for the sisters on your route, so your family will be happy too!

Let's Hear It for The Girls!

It seems to take me 5.3 times longer to do anything these days. Blame it on pregnancy brain, or exhaustion, or a mix of both, but it seems to be a regular part of life these days. 

On September 21st the whole family clamored into the car excited to find out who we'd be welcoming into our family. And here SHE is!

 

How excited the Pip-squeak was to welcome a sister into our home! My sweet 8-year-old was obviously a little disappointed but he kept a strong face. It about killed me when he said, in a very forlorn voice, "Well, at least I don't have to share my toys, or my room." The poor kid. I immediately felt like it was me who had disappointed him. For weeks I had been focusing on what I knew would be a loud and long upset should my pip-squeak find out we were having a boy. I prepped her and repeatedly told her how great it would be to have a brother. She would retort with things like, "I will not kiss a baby boy," or, "I won't bring it home if it's a boy." I focused so much on prepping her on the idea of a brother I think I kind of, sort of, convinced both the Little Guy and myself that it was going to be a boy! Needless to say, seeing my Little Guy suck it up and still tell me he was happy to have "any baby" in the family nearly made me break down. He is such an amazing brother and when he told me, "It's OK mom. I already know how to be a great brother to a sister." I knew he was going to be alright. But boy is it harder to disappoint the rational one instead of the fit-thrower! 

We are all now settled into the idea of having a sister and are busy thinking of names for this sweet little baby. In a short 17 weeks she'll be here. And if I'm still taking 5.3 times longer to do everything I'll probably be starting to think about getting a crib set up. Maybe! Wish me luck.

September Visiting Teaching Message

It's been months since I've actually felt well enough, and had enough time to put together a VT message! September's message is about Strengthening families by increasing spirituality and keep an eternal perspective. You can find the whole message here. A great message to start out a new school year. So often the primary focus at the beginning of the school year is academic goals for the following year. This year, wouldn't it be nice, to add some spiritual and personal goals into the mix as well? We, as sisters, have a wonderful opportunity to create strong homes full of love and can do so through inspiration and knowledge gained through scripture study and prayer. Elder M. Russell Ballard asked the question, "What can we do to better prepare our children spiritually for their eternal roles?" And then goes on to answer, "Perhaps the most inclusive answer is: Teach them how to live the principles of the gospel." Catagorically easier said than done, but priceless. The most comforting part is that we're not alone and we have Father who can teach each of us how.

Here's what my sisters will be getting this month:

 Along with that I'll be giving them a bag of apples with this tag:

 Click on the pictures to get the PDF version. Have fun this month!

As almost always I used a cute free download from shabbyprincess.com , called Festival, and the fonts Jailbird Jenna, and Batik Regular

The Armenian in the Back Yard

This, my friends, is an Armenian cucumber. How does one come by such a bizarre and even grotesque looking plant? Well, it all starts when you go to the garden center with your husband to buy seedlings for the newly built garden box. Upon arrival, one should then ask one's husband to go and find a cucumber plant. Then, one should make sure not to check the tag of the selected squash, and instead trust one's husband to select an acceptable variety.  Upon planting the seedling one may now check the tag and exclaim, "What in the world is an Armenian cucumber!?" Then four growing-season months later, voila! a rather large, nobby-looking plant will be growing amidst your tomatoes and carrots.

I'm not afraid to admit that I was a little disgusted and turned off at the idea of trying this irregular, squash-like fruit. The Little Guy and I nicknamed it "The Snozzcumber."  For those of you who are unfamiliar with snozzcumbers you should pick up Roald Dahl's The BFG and familiarize yourself with this horrible imaginary vegetable that tastes like "frog skins and rotten fish" even worse, maybe "clockroaches and slimewanglers." With that as a descriptive reel playing across the back of my mind I bravely sliced the strange Armenian variety of cucumber, all the while feeling horribly bad for the native peoples who must be forced to consume it every summer.

The little guy and I each took a quarter, and sprinkled with a little salt. We three, two, one-d it and took a bite. Amazing! The Armenians are not forced to eat disgusting snozzcumbers! They are, in fact, blessed with a rather tasty, slightly firmer, and much larger version of our common growing variety. How astonishing! Instead of the garbage, which before tasting I was quite confident this Armenian would find itself, it has found a nice home in our crisper. At least until tomorrow, where I will most likely eat some or most of it for lunch.

Off and Running

The Pip-squeak's first day of preschool was this past Wednesday! She was so thrilled to go that she was completely ready by 9:15. Too bad school didn't start until 12:30.

 This year my big 4 going on 14-year-old is attending a neighborhood preschool with just about the sweetest teacher anyone could ever ask for. It probably doesn't hurt that she is also the mom to one of my Pip-squeak's little friends. It's not a long walk, but at over 1/4 of a mile I had a feeling that walking would most likely turn into mom walking while carrying the preschooler. And since I am currently carrying another rather clingy child for another 24 weeks I didn't really want to do both. The Pip-squeak, on the other hand, was adamant she walk/run all the way to school. My lazy mom solution: have her walk as I drive as slowly as possible. This way, when she inevitably tuckered-out, Mom to the rescue...without any of the hard work! So...here we go.

 Soon enough (about half way there) she was ready to climb into the car for a little R & R before class.

Nicely rested she was ready to start a great day at school. 

Since we're staying local there weren't any new names to remember or new surroundings to get used to. She felt right at home and quickly shoo-ed me on my way. I LOVE this little girl so much! How lucky I am to be her mommy!

The Duck Liberation Movement

On July 8th the Pip-squeak and I rescued a tiny duckling in the middle of the road. At the "farm" store we were told it wasn't going to make it. I bought the food and heat lamp anyway, but prepared the kids for the worst. Well, the worst didn't happen and we ended up with a sweet little cheeping duckling as a house mate. She lived in a rubbermaid tote, and the kids called her Dodger Danger Duck.

The next week our duckling looked like this.

By two weeks old we realized ducklings know how to do three things; eat, poop, and grow. Not quite the cute little pet I had envisioned, and quickly stinking up the dining room in which she resided Jon built her a quaint little cottage, a.k.a. "the duck hutch" in the back yard.




By three weeks of age Dodger the duck had started the transformation process. Notice the scraggly looking feathers on it's back. His little webbed feet weren't so little anymore and the Little Guy was surprised that she had claws that were a little too scratchy for playtime. A happy coincidence though, this duck loves grasshoppers, and since I hate them we got along just fine. It's always a pleasure to watch your worst nightmare get snatched up into the jaws of death!

One month since the most daring rescue in our families history and we ended up with this. A duck that was just a little too scary to hold on to without a parent's help.

(On a side note, I swear my kids don't wear pajamas all day. Picture time always happened right before bed when I would think to myself, "Shoot! I keep forgetting to take a picture of that darn duck!")

Week five and we have ourselves an almost full-blown duck. A tiny bit of fuzz by her wings let us know she was still too little to fly. Jon was counting down the days. Out side now she wasn't quite as smelly, but she ate like a HORSE! And if the water wasn't changed every day we had a very unpleasant aroma not too unlike the stagnant, bug infested bog of eternal stench. 

  

                                      The last and final scene in our epic journey in animal rescue.

 Yes, I got Jon to hold the duck. (Notice the gloves.) He was only too glad to pick it up and place it in the same rubbermaid tote that had once been it's home. This time, though, she barely fit. Lucky for her, and for us, we have a wonderful lakeside park only two blocks away from our house. Into the back of the pickup went the duck and the two kids, and off we went to Eagle Park.

 Trying to teach a duck to fly is a little like trying to teach me ride a skateboard...so we gave up quickly. The kids followed her around for a little while and then Jon caught her up again and walked down through the reeds to the marshy edge of the lake. He came back to this.

Good-bye Dodger Danger Duck. The Pip-squeak will miss you; the Little Guy will remember you; and Jon will try his hardest to wash your stink out of his hands. As for me, I'm surprisingly glad that I comically jumped out of the car and postponed your demise. Please fly south before Duck Hunting Season, or else I'll be really ticked!

First Day of School

Here goes my Little Guy. Off the the third grade. Is that even possible? Ten years and he'll be off to college and I will, no doubt, be asking the same question.

At the traditional "Back to School" night we got to meet his teacher and check out the new classroom. The Little Guy is beside himself with excitement over the fact that his class gets to choose a class pet! His teacher seems very nice and keeps her classroom smelling nice (that's a huge plus for Jon since he has an adverse reaction to pungent children). The Little Guy was won right over. After we left I asked him what he thought of her. His answer: "She seems nice, and clean, and really...well put together."

Full of Life

Sometime next year, my Pip-squeak will turn five; my Little Guy will turn nine; Jon and I will both be a nicely-aged 32; and my baby will make his or her grand entrance into the world. Nearly 15 weeks down, and just over 25 to go and only 4 or 5 weeks until we find out if we've got a brother or a sister on the way!

Two Weeks Later

This duckie must have some genetic mutation because it grows freakishly fast. Two weeks ago I could completely hide it in my hands; the pip-squeak could hide all but his sweet little head in her hands. He looked tiny in the rubbermaid tote he was to call home. And now...

      

The little guy finds him much less fun to hold, but he'll still follow you around the house. His little feathers are starting to fluff out and the tail feathers are sticking up a little more. From what I can find this means that we were right in our guess that it is indeed a boy duck, or a drake, and those are his drake feathers. So hopefully in the next few weeks we'll have a, no-doubt larger, duck with a green head. Then it will be time to ship him off to the lake. OK, can you tell that I'm counting down the days? I'm just NOT a fan of cleaning out his living space twice a day, and being awoken by the not-so-sweet-anymore chirps that get exponentially louder as he continues to grow. Still, I love that the kids have this opportunity and in a week or two when we can get him outside it will be a piece of cake...right?

Duck: Take 2

Week two of the Duck Rescue Project has taught us several things: 1) The older ducks get, the worse they smell; 2) A duck grows exponentially larger, and exponentially less cute as each day passes; and, 3) It's incredibly entertaining to have a duckling follow you around the house.

So after one week we've reared this little duckling to more than double his original size...which apparently means double the poop. The kids are still having fun holding him and letting him swim around. At first it was the tub, but I'm not too keen on completely sanitizing the tub every single day. So now he swims around outside in a big rubbermaid tote. We've also had to upgrade him into a larger bin since his tiny little wing stumps, and longer legs have propelled him up and almost out of his first place. He won't follow the pip-squeak around but he does follow me and cheeps incessantly. He also still chats it up with his "mirror brother" though now he was to squat down to see him in the mirror. By next week I think we'll enter those rocky adolescent times. We'll see if the mood swings and the molting starts!

Boy V. Donut

One day, not too long ago, my little guy woke up and told me he wanted the biggest donut in the world! We're not frequent donut buyers...but why not? It's not everyday one can attempt to conquer the "biggest donut in the world." Without a doubt, this isn't the biggest, but it seemed like it to an excited 8-year-old and he took the challenge like a scene out of Man V. Food from the Travel Channel. Sadly, in the battle between the "biggest donut ever" and the 8-year-old the donut won! A fun challenge, and the good news: He's totally donut-ed out for a while.

Note: Does anyone else think he looks totally tiny next to that giant donut? It was a good reminder to me that 8 is still a long way off from 18, and I still have plenty of time to snuggle him before he's off buying his own donuts.

Al Rescate Amigos!

The pip-squeak and got to be real life animal rescuers this morning when we found this little guy in the middle of the road.

 

Hopefully we can keep him warm and cozy enough to survive. After seeing my pip-squeak already so in love with even just the thought of rescuing a tiny little animal how could I say no? I promise I tried to get spousal approval, but when you refuse to answer your phone a mom is forced to make an executive decision. Sorry Jon, the duckling stays!

 

There's no way he could say no to a sweet little smile like that anyway! So...meet "Snatch" the newest addition to our family! At least until he can fly, then it's off to the lake with him.

The Debut Recital

 The little guys first piano recital was on June 30. One full year of lessons! He'll probably say it feels like forever, but it seems to have gone by pretty fast for his mama. He did an awesome job and had both of his pieces memorized. We're lucky enough to have a grandma just a couple blocks up the road. This entire thing wouldn't be possible without her, since our home is without a piano of it's own. So thanks to a loving and patient grandma the little guy has practiced his way through his first recital and gets to start getting ready for his first competition in the fall.

 He played two pieces in a row. The first one was called Raven's Call, the second a miniature sonatina.

 He wasn't too pleased with the white piano, but whadda ya do?

 So I love my little guy, but I don't love my scrunched up pose with my butt sticking out. Sadly, I don't have as much time as I thought and can't edit it right now. So enjoy the off-centered, funky picture. You're welcome.

Thanks to Grandma Debbie and Papa George who are always so supportive. We love you so much and love that you came to the first ever recital for the best kid ever! One day when he's totally famous you'll be able to say I was there when it all started!