Our Pumpkin Night

Our annual pumpkin carving night took place in two parts. Part one, pumpkin gathering/purchasing. I really wanted to find a local pumpkin patch to go to this year. I found a couple that were pretty close, but Chris didn't get back from California until Saturday late-afternoon. He works during the week until 5:30, and since we live in Timbuktu, it would be dark by the time we made it to any pumpkin patch within a week before Halloween. I settled for fake pumpkin patch pictures at Walmart.

Carter, Say Cheese.

Bailey, strike a pose

Jacob, don't be cheesy. Love ya, buddy.

Part two took place the next night. Family night first where we talked about Prayer, and bribed the kids with pumpkin carving after the lesson if they would sit still for 5 minutes. They did pretty good at the sitting still part, we forgot to specify we wanted them to listen and participate, and they thought that our lesson was taking forever. During the opening prayer Jacob said "and I just can't wait to carve pumpkins Heavenly Father, can you please hurry our lesson..."

This girl never has qualms about pumpkin guts

pumpkin guts still make this guy want to barf, ahhhh, just like his Mom.

This one never needs to be asked to help make a mess, nor does he listen when it is time to stop making a mess. But isn't he cute?

We attempted making these. I discovered this morning they may be just for looks, as they aren't exactly edible. I was lazy and bought he Carmel squares you can unwrap and melt. BIG mistake. When they re harden they are really, really, hard. Good thing we will get real treats in 2 more nights.

Ta-da! I always love it when the carving is over.

Happy Halloween, Love the Cooks

Tagged again

I was tagged by my friend Heidi.

10 years ago I:

1. Dropped out of my second year at Edmonds Community College, to work full time. I hated going to school, but now I wish I had finished.
2. Lived with friends Leanne and Kerry (Don't know what ever happened to them)
3. Attended activities with my Singles Branch just about every night of the week, and thought my life was soooooo busy then.
4. Ran 5 miles every day, 10 miles on Saturday's, and thought for sure I was headed for running my first marathon.
5. Had long Blonde hair to my waist.

5 things on today's "to do" list:

1. Clean the House
2. Fold Laundry
3. Prepare meals, serve meals, clean up meals
4. Help kids with homework
5. Go to the temple tonight

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Anything that is classified as a treat
2. Grapes
3. Nature Valley Granola Bars
4. Celery and Peanut Butter
5. Did I say treats?

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Hire a maid to clean my house weekly
2. Go to a spa weekly (namely get a massage at said spa)
3. Hire a personal trainer to help me daily
4. Have a fully equiped home gym
5. Take a vacation with my family

5 places I have lived:

1. Edmonds, WA
2. Lynnwood, WA
3. Everett, WA
4. Blackfoot, ID
5. That is it.

Five jobs I have had:

1. Paper route
2. Babysitter
3. Nanny
4. Dental Assistant
5. Mommy

I tag...Whoever wants to - this is the second tag I've gotten in a couple of weeks. I already tagged a few friends last time, so I won't make you do it again if you don't want.


Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog

Rockstars

Sheldon, Aaron, Rich, and Dave - this one's for you. Bob and Dan, sorry, you two won't remember.

Bailey wanted to listen to her favorite band today - the Beatles. I put the CD in and got busy scrap booking while they danced and sang. Next thing I know, they had fashioned their own home-made guitars and informed me they needed strings to tie them over their shoulders. It was just so funny to me. How creative of them. They got out all the fixing's and made their craft unbeknownst to me. When I had stapled on the strings, Jacob declared ' Now we look like Rock star's mom! ' What a crack-up.

This brought back vivid memories from childhood. All the way back to the 'yellow' house - the first house I lived in, and moved from at age 5. My older brothers and I used to listen to my Mom and Dad's records - namely the Beatles and the Monkey's - all the time. There was a bonus room over the garage that was a bedroom for two of my brothers. The back 1/4 of the room stepped up and was used as a stage where the 'band' would perform. Everyone had tennis rackets for mock air guitars, and I think it was the most joyous part of my day if I got to perform with the band. I do remember getting shoved off the stage quite a few times because I didn't quite know the words good enough. Mean brothers. I don't know if Dave remembers, he was only 3, but I bet he does. Those were good times with my brothers. Watching my children re-enact their version of being rock stars was a little nostalgic. Here are some pictures of the rock stars in action.

New twilight trailer

11-21-08

Boo-yah!

My friend Lori has the official trailer on her blog and you can see it here. And it looks really good by the way. So who's going with me?

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

In reading one of my friends post recently, I was reminded of all of the reasons I love the fall. You can read about her reasons here.

It made me think about all of mine, so I decided to make one of my fall favorites, and wanted to share. Your welcome.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Recipe makes 10 mini-loaves (That way you can share)

5 eggs well beaten

3 C Sugar

2 1/2 C Canned Pumpkin

2 C Oil

4 1/2 C Flour

1 1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 t. Baking Soda

4 1/2 t. Cinnamon
1 1/2 t. Nutmeg
1 1/2 t. Cloves

1 t. Ginger
12 - 16 oz. milk choc. or semi-sweet choc. chips. (I like semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin and oil. Add dry ingredients slowly and combine thoroughly. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into greased and lightly floured pans. Bake for 45 min. If you use small loaf pans, place approx. 1 C of batter into each pan. (Or you can use 4 normal size loaf pans).

You can half this recipe, or freeze extra loaves. I wrap each loaf in saran wrap and then foil to prevent freezer burn.

Tagged

I was tagged a while ago by my long lost friend from high school, and I decided it was high time to make good on my tag.


Here are the rules...

1. Link to the person who tagged you:
http://woody'sfam.blogspot.com/
2. Post the rules on your blog:
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.


Six random things about myself? This is hard. I feel a little on the boring-ish side... Oh well, here goes.


1. When I am not pregnant, I usually work out twice a day, just so I can still eat treats. I am a total candy maniac, but am still obsessed with diet and exercise; so I like to punish myself with workouts, yet reward myself with treats. What is wrong with me?! All the while I logically know that if I just cut out treats to an occasional indulgence, I could just work out once a day and still look how I want to. I would have so much more time in my schedule. Yes, I know I should go back to therapy.


2. I am a total recovering germ-o-phob. I worked for 8 years as a dental assistant, and I think that constant focus on killing the germs all day long spewed over into my normal life. I used to wipe down my grocery carts with Clorox wipes before putting my children inside. I also used to deep clean my house almost every-other day. And although I still cut raw meat with rubber-gloves on, and I still cannot bring myself to eat anything other than cotton-candy at the fair, having children has totally interrupted my germ-free world, and made me relax in soooo many ways. Let's face it. Kids are one big ball of germs. I had to face the facts that I can no longer try to live in a bubble without scarring my children for life. I now feed them snacks in the grocery cart just to keep them quiet, even though I totally don't even wipe down the cart anymore. (Ewwww, I know. I swore I never would do that and almost gagged when I saw other mom's doing it. Whatever. Anything for a peaceful shopping trip. I am totally that mom now). And if you come to my house on any given day, you will find that 3 mess-makers rule the roost and are totally faster than me, and as for deep-cleaning my house? Well, some weeks it happens once, sometimes it happens every couple, and well, sometimes it is even longer before the toilets get scrubbed. But hey, don't judge me. You know sometimes there is a ring in your toilet too.


3. I can't go to bed at night. It is a sickness really. I aim to get my kids in bed by 7 pm, sometimes it doesn't all wrap up until 8, but after that, a choir is blasting 'Hallelujah!' in my head and I become wide eyed and giddy at the mere thought of quiet time to myself...(that is, when Chris isn't home). I suddenly get my second wind no matter how sleepy and dragging I may have been during the day, because it feels good to be 'off duty' from my mothering for a short time, and I consider all of the possibilities of what I could do uninterrupted. When I am not pregnant, I work out, then play. These days, I think about all I could be doing, but usually end up laying in bed with chocolate and seeing what is on my TV. If I look like I am getting fatter, now you know why. Dang Chocolate.


4. Chris and I met because we were set up by our best buddies. He had been home from his mission for 4 days, and they brought him to a young single adult dance to meet me. I was walking out to go home, and he was walking in to find them. As I held the door open and he breezed past, I said 'Hi' with serious ga-ga eyes, and he muttered ' Hi' back without so much as a glance in my direction. My pride was immediately wounded as I thought ' What a jerk!!!' I looked really hot that night. Yet in the next moment I thought ' I wonder who that is?!' and of course went back in to discreetly see who the hottie was. And it was him. The love of my life. Who didn't even notice me the first time he saw me. Don't worry, he's more than made up for it. Now he knows how lucky he is.


5. I always wanted to serve a mission, and after getting my patriarchal blessing at age 16, I felt strongly that I should serve one. I even saved up almost all of my own mission money, and swore I would never skip my mission for a boy. Guess what? I TOTALLY skipped my mission for a boy. After Andy and Em introduced Chris and I, we started talking, then because we were at a dance, we of course danced. While we were dancing I casually said, 'so, you just got home from your mission? I am going on a mission soon...' because I wanted to make it clear that I was unavailable, even though he was seriously the hottest guy I had ever met. He wasn't scared. We all know how this one ended up. And I am so glad it ended up how it did. Now I can serve a mission with a companion that I like.


6. I love all things (okay most things) creative and crafty. I cannot usually 'create my own ideas' per-say, but if you show me how, I am a pretty good copier. I love photography, baking, scrap booking, wood crafts, and more. I have always wanted to take classes to sharpen my skills, and learn new things to get better at my amateur attempts, but always have other things that seem to stop me from doing so. Okay, it's my kids and husbands fault. Kidding. kind of. I love em, and they are my first and best priority, and I accept that this is a busy season of life. If Chris's work schedule were different, he would totally be there for me to support other interests. And although I wish I could take pictures like Shelby, bake like Nicki, scrapbook like Angela, and make wood crafts like Emily, I realize that one of these days, I will be able to make time to make each goal a priority. But for now, I will settle for for admiring the talents of some of my friends. But even if I didn't name you, don't think I don't admire you. Because I do. I have some really cool friends. I am lucky to have you guys.


That is it. I am supposed to tag others now. I don't even know who has already done this. Hmmm, I now tag Jen and Dave, Tiffany, Katie, Kimberly, and Jotien. If you already did this, then, I guess never mind. By the way, tiffany, if you read this, I can't link to your site. Did you know your address now goes to some advertising site? Just click on my link.

A coincidental bug

Good news people. Bailey was up until 3:30 last night, burning up with a 103.5 temp. wailing, moaning and crying about her tummy hurting. I put her in bed with me since she was inconsolable and so helpless. I hate it when they are sick and suffering. Jacob did the same thing earlier this week, and it only lasted about 24-36 hours. I now know that Carter really didn't sear out the lining of his stomach and cause permanent damage to his body (which I really was starting to believe because he on the other hand kept up with a temperature and bad tummy ache for about 4 days). Just a freaky bug of some type. I mean, I have never seen a temperature and stomach ache and no other symptoms ever. Weird. But I feel better now.

I am off to bed for once before 9 pm at night. I ended up letting Carter and Jacob sleep on my floor last night because they kept repeatedly coming in to bother me in the midst of dealing with the moaning child. I know I sound so compassionate. I just think compassion is hanging on by a thread these days. I finally caved and told them to zip their dang lips and sleep on the floor, but for Pete's sake, don't wake me up again. Whew. Sleep now is calling my name. Just wanted to share.