a cupcake and a cowboy

Halloween Weekend 2010... better late than never!
Jack was a cowboy and Ellie was a cupcake...

Somebody is an OU fan!

We had an action packed weekend of 'smore eatin', hangin' with friends and fam, pumpkin' carvin', festival goin', trick-or-treatin', and candy eatin'. The children were in bliss. The parents were exhausted. We've learned what we will and will NOT be doing next year. (Hint to naive parents: do not take little children into your local church festival's cardboard box maze in a dark crowded room... bad idea)

Homemade Play Dough

Why haven't we done this before? I've never really cared for store bought play dough (it's sticks to everything, the colors get all mixed and ugly, and it dries out so quick), but this homemade stuff is great! The cuties loved helping make it. Probably should have saved this activity for a rainy day, but I guess we'll just have to do it again sometime.

Recipe:

1 C Flour

1/2 C Salt

1 C Water

1 T Oil

2 t Cream of Tarter

Food Coloring (as desired)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in pan over low heat. Stir until a ball forms. Remove from heat and add food coloring and knead until combined. Store in airtight zip lock bag.

Dinner

Meal planning and cooking are not my strength, but I'm trying! I'm trying to get out of my same old rut and try some new recipes. I get all my good ideas from other people and when I find a good one, I love to share it. The husband loved it. The wife had 2 and a half. The kids ate it. That's a winner in my book! Here's the link to mini meatball sandwiches! It wasn't hard to make either.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/07/16-minute-meal-3-mini-meatball-sandwiches/

First Day

So my baby started school this week. I didn't cry the first day. I cried today. He said he was ready for me to let him out of the car in the drop-off line. He looked so small with that big backpack on and it's all I could do to keep from following him in.

He is loving it.

Ellie misses him the mornings he's at school. She keeps asking if it is time to go get Jack yet.

While I was vacuuming this morning, trying to get up all the cheerios scattered around the house and avoid the Lego's, I thought, I'm really going to miss this someday. My babies are growing up too fast and these years really are so short. Better cherish them.

On a lighter note, we tried a new kind of curry chicken for dinner last night. It was a yellowish color and was served over rice. Jack sat down and promptly asked with the most innocent, straight face "Hey Mommy, who pooped in my bowl?" He was sent straight to his room, so Hayden and I could recover our laughter before correcting him. The funny thing is, I know he knew he would get in trouble, he just couldn't resist.

butterflies and bats

This summer we've been able to enjoy a little nature in our own backyard. We raised some black swallowtail butterflies that we brought in as caterpillars from our parsley plant. We made a home for them with left over pink tulle from Ellie's birthday and a tomato cage. We fed them fresh parsley daily and then had the privilege of watching them transform up close. I never realized their chrysalis forms from the inside out. Awesome metaphor there! Then, we got to set the butterflies free as they came out of the chrysalis. I think I was even more excited about this whole process than the kids were.

fat little caterpillars

shedding their skin to reveal the chrysalis

out of the chrysalis, ready to fly

set free!

enjoying a drink from our garden

our Monarch

Then yesterday, Jack spotted this little guy way up high on our front porch. I never would have noticed him. I thought he was sleeping (it was daytime afterall), but the zoom on the lens showed he was, to my dismay, AWAKE!

Colorado

In June, we had a wonderful week of fun in the mountains. We had such a great time with the Love's and made special memories with Jack and Ellie. We went on an overnight backpack trip, 4 miles in to a beautiful lake, which was an adventure and the highlight! We are so happy to be able to share our love of the mountains with our children and fortunately, they loved it too!

Allen Family Campout!

What an awesome time the kids had playing with all their cousins on the first annual Allen Family Camp out! They loved playing in the river and riding bikes, but I think the highlight had to be Papa Allen's fireside presentation of the family legends of Bigfoot and of the night of the Mountain Lion! I'm sure we will soon forget the sleepless night and utter exhaustion!

What Will He Think of Next

Jack has been cracking me up with his ingenious dress up creations. It occurred to me that I should be taking pictures of the crazy stuff he comes up with. So... he has been into pirates lately. He jumped up after watching Peter Pan and grabbed a red fleece and proceeded to stuff tissue in the neck! Pretty funny. In the top picture he was going for a totally different look in his short pants and printed top. He also ran to the bathroom trashcan and grabbed an old toilet paper roll out of the trash to use as a telescope. He was really proud of his pirate map too. I know I am his mommy, but I'm impressed!

Birthday Girl

My baby is three. She is three going on four. Her name means "light" and what a light she has been in our lives. It has been so fun watching her grow and seeing her personality. I love how she likes to hop over cracks in the sidewalk and the little voices she uses to talk to her stuffed animals. She makes almost everything cute. When she first started to talk she put an "eee" sound on the end of most of her words. Sadly she has grown out of a lot of that, but "turtle" is still "turty". "Be careful" is still "be corsy". And shoulders are still "sholdees". She had a really special Princess party with her little friends and cousins and she loved every minute of it. She's a ham! We love her. Can't believe how fast she is growing up.