Halloween FHE

So, today I wanted to do something a little more fun with Logan. I wanted to do this for a few reasons. 1) He seems like he really needs some attention, and maybe some one on one mommy time.He is always harrassing Avery, and I feel like I am yelling at him a lot, or sending him to time out. 2) I wanted to do something fun for Halloween.

I found some really cute and simple booklets to print off for Halloween. I glued the 5 little pumpkins pages on orange cardstock, and put the pages in page protectors to make a nice book. The "orange pumpkin, orange pumpkin" story, I just printed off the pages and let Logan color the pictures. We had fun, and it was fun to read them to daddy when he got home.

I also made some cookies. I let Logan decorate them with chocolate chips, and he had a good time. He sure likes cookies! We let Avery have some cookie too, and when I wasn't around, daddy put her on the floor to eat her cookie. What?? That's what high chairs are for! Unfortunately, it wasn't very smart to give her some since you can see her little face starting to break out. She has had some funny reactions to some foods on occasion. It isn't as bad as it used to be, so I am hopeful she will grow out of it soon. She loves to eat, and wants to eat everything!




After the cookies, we whipped out the pumpkins for the much anticipated carving. Logan had his very own little pumpkin, and I gave him a sharpie and told him to draw his face, and I would cut it out for him. He did, and it was such a great job! I slightly modified it, to allow room, but otherwise, his pumpkin's face he designed himself. He was sooo excited! He is getting really good at drawing all of a sudden.

Pumpkin Patch

I mentioned in a previous post about our trip to the Cider mill on Saturday. I now have pictures!

It was neat to go to the mill, and be able to get some fresh cider and cider donuts! Yum! The corn maze was Logan's favorite part I think. He kept talking about getting some corn. He was so funny! As soon as we entered the maze, he picked up two cobs of corn off the ground, and carried them around the entire maze. We actually brought them home. We had to convince him that it wasn't good corn to eat though.


Although the day was a really nice Fall day, it was a bit windy at times, so the kids had their hoods on to keep their ears warm. I tried to get a picture of the cute kids with the pumpkins, but you know how hard it is to get them to look at the camera? They are still cute!


Tony had baby carrying duty, since I had camera duty. I just loved seeing Avery with her daddy! They are so cute! Daddy put his hat on her head to give her some shade at one point, and she looked so cute I had to get a picture.Have I said cute enough yet?




Since we can't ever seem to get a picture of all of us together when we go out, I told Tony I wanted a picture of me and my kids. Again, it was good luck getting the kids to look at the camera!



It was a fun day. I love spending time with my family, no matter what we are doing. I am the happiest when we are all together having fun!

Recipe Blog

Ok, so I am getting a bit Blog crazy. I decided to start another blog solely about recipes and food. If you would like to check it out,you can go here. If you try any of the recipes, be sure to comment and let me know what you think!

Speaking of recipes, I am sure you may all remember my recent post about the Chili cook-off that won me third place? Well, I just learned a very amusing story tonight about the first place winner. If you would like to check it out, you can read it on my friend Dani's blog.

Today, we spent the morning at the Louisburg Cider Mill visiting the corn maze and pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, the patch had been picked over pretty good, so we ended up getting a pumpkin from a pile of pumpkins they had instead.Logan led us through the corn maze, and his favorite part I think were the two cobs of corn he took home with him. He carried those two corn cobs around with him the entire maze! I will post pictures later.It was a nice day!

Fire Map

so, I thought I would share a map with you all that shows where the fires have burned, where they are currently burning, and the evacuation areas so you can see where it is in relation to my parents home. There is a key on the right of the map, but light pink is where the fire has burned, red is obviously where it is burning, and purple is the mandatory evacuation areas.

Go here.

Zoom in to 50%, and then scroll down to show El Cajon. In the bottom left corner of square 1252, is where my parents live.So, thankfully they are right out of reach of the fire, but awfully close.

Halloween pillowcase

I finally made Logan's Halloween pillowcase yesterday. When I was done making it, I was very anxious for Logan to see his new pillow, but when I went to give it to him, this is what I found. I just placed the pillow behind him and took the picture. I love sleeping children.

So, I was really hoping that having such a fun new pillowcase especially for Halloween would make Logan more excited to go to bed. Ha! Not so. He still ended up in our bed last night. Twice. I know I am catering to this bad habit by not insisting he stay in his bed, but at 2 a.m. when we are all exhausted, it is much easier to let the child cuddle in between us (and kick off the covers, and turn around sideways and use one of us as a pillow, and the other as a kicking post) than fight with him about going back to his own bed. If Avery would cooperate, I would even be tempted to let her join us when she wakes up in the night. In my ideal brain, it would work out so much better for us all to be one big happy, cozy, sleeping family, than to stand in her room rocking her back and forth, and trying not to laugh as she thinks it is hilarious to stick her binky in my mouth. She is a funny girl.

Just to go on a bit of a tangent and talk about Avery, she is doing so many fun things these days! She is almost 9 months old. She is scooting around army style all over the place. She can get her knees up under her pretty good too, but has yet to learn to push up on her hands at the same time. You know how they say that babies at this age tend to wake up in the night because they want to practice their new skills? Well, that is what little Miss has been doing lately. She wants to be held upright, and then tucks her knees up and pushes against my chest with her hands and rocks up and down. If she were in the normal hands and knees postition on the floor, she would be rocking back and forth. Anyway, she does this for a bit, and then collapses into my arms or on my shoulder like she is so tired. Then immediately pops back up again and proceeds to practice her rocking...using me for her surface. I have to hold on tight or she will end up on the floor. She does this over and over for a while. When I try to lay her down in her bed, she then practices her clapping. She claps a lot these days and it is so cute, because she tends to yell at the same time, almost like she is saying "yay!" Se claps in the middle of nursing, eating, having her diaper changed, or just sitting and playing. She is funny to watch...especially with her huge grin while she is doing it!

The other night in the middle of one of her mid-night practice sessions, she was having a hard time letting me leave her. I layed her in her crib,held her hand and decided to sing to her, hoping it would calm her down enough for me to slip out. well, that plan backfired! She took that as a cue to join in, and started singing along. It was so cute! But not what the point was. Oh well...you just have to love the sweet little things. She is very vocal these days and has "dadadadadada" down to a T. She says "baba" "wawa" "tata", but not "mama" yet. We are working on it though.She also has two teeth now...her two bottom ones. Her hair is growing too. I really can't believe how fast time has gone.

An update on my parents situation. So far, they are still safe at home, with no signs of evacuation in the near future.From what my mom said this morning, the fire is starting to go back towards the direction it came from...so heading east again. If it were to head north, it would be in the direction of their house. Last night when talking to my parents, they were just watching in amazement as Mt. Miguel lit up with flames. You can see that mountain straight out our living room window. I guess to be able to actually see it, is bit more worrisome.

Some websites to check out are:

www.sdcountyemergency.com

www.10news.com

www.signonsandiego.com

San Diego is on fire!

I am writing about this because I am worried to death about my parents, as well as other families I know in the area. This is so scary, and it doesn't look good at all. I thought after the Cedar fire four years ago, there wouldn't be another one that bad. It sounds like they are expecting this one to be even worse.Here is an article about it, and I am sure you can find plenty more if you google it.They ahve already evacuated 250,000 people, and are sending 1,000 firetrucks from northern California to help. Can you believe the magnitude of this?

This situation really makes me think about how important it is to be prepared.I have been telling my mom that she has some advance notice in this situation, so she has time to pack a few important things, gather their important papers, pictures, pets, etc. She has time to go get gas in the cars, and money from the bank. She has time to get her 72 hour kits updated and ready to go. She has time to pack the cars and be ready in case the call comes for them to evacuate. The time won't last long though if they don't do anything while they can. Back in 2003 when they were in this situation, I thought long and hard about what really mattered to me if my parents home burned down. It is the only home I ever knew growing up, so all my childhood memories are there. Of course there are a lot of things that I will be sad about losing, but only a few things that I told my mom to be sure to get. Family pictures and scrapbooks, and my wedding dress. I still feel the same about those things, but since the last fires, I have also lost my little brother, so his things would be important to save as well. It is hard to be so far removed from the situation, because I wish I could help! I would get every suitcase and box I could find and load up the things I thought were important, and be sure my parents were ready and prepared. I can't do it for them, just like no one can do it for us. We have to be ready, and we are the only ones who can do that for ourselves.

Right now, my parents home is not in the direct path of the fires, but it is always possible that it could be. The last time the fire came pretty close, on more sides of their home than one. I believe they were even told it would be a good idea to evacuate, but they didn't. It probably came about 10 miles away at the closest. They are on the outskirts of El Cajon, closer to Jamul where the Harris fire is burning. But on the other side of them is Santee and Lakeside which is in the path of the Witch fire. I feel that they will probably be ok, but you never know and I have to prepare myself for the worst possibility.

Please pray for them and everyone else who is and will be affected by this scary situation.

Halloween Trunk or Treat and Chili Cook Off

Tonight was our ward's Halloween Trunk or Treat and Chili cook-off. I signed up to bring chili. I have never made anything for a cook-off before, so this was new for me. And, guess what? I won 3rd place!The above picture is my prize. I am so excited! Seriously, I didn't think I would be so proud of myself. It feels good.

So, I didn't make either of the recipes I was thinking about. I went with a recipe for Pumpkin Black Bean Chili. I tweaked it a bit, and was pretty pleased with the results. I may fiddle around with it in the future to make it even better. Here is the recipe.

Pumpkin Black Bean Chili

1 medium-large yellow onion, chopped
1 chopped yellow bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. oil
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
3 (15 oz.) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 lb. ground turkey, browned
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes
4 cups (2 cans) chicken broth
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1-2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1-2 tsp. salt (to taste)

1. Saute onions, yellow pepper and garlic in oil for 8 minutes, or until soft.
2. Stir in oregano, cumin, and chili powder. Cook 1 minute. Transfer to slow cooker.
3. Add remaining ingredients.
4. Cover. Cook on low 7-8 hours, or high for 3 1/2-4 hours)

It was the missionaries who were judging, if that means anything. And there were 10 entries, so again I'm pretty pleased that I won 3rd place!



As for the kids and their costumes, Logan was a ghost and Avery was a little fairy.My friend Vicki had a ghost costume that her son wore when he was 3 that she let us borrow. My cousin sent a little skirt and wand for Avery, and I bought her some wings at Michael's. I made her flower headband this afternoon. I am glad I didn't have to spend too much on the kids Halloween costumes this year. Maybe one of these years I will get back in the Halloween spirit for myself, and get Tony and I some good costumes. I used to get into Halloween a lot more. I had fun.

Osage Orange...aka hedge apple

So, I was hoping to stump you all! I totally forgot about some of you who live in the area! I should have put a disclaimer for those of you who really did know what it is, to see what clever responses I would get from those who didn't know. Oh well. At least the mystery is solved!

Osage Orange trees are the winner! It is true. I have a hedgerow straight through my backyard. The nice thing is that it does provide a lot of shade in the summer. However, along with that it also does not allow a lot of sunlight in either. My bedroom feels so dark all the time. It's like I am in a tree house sometimes.

Anyway, I finally looked up some information about these mysterious trees, and they actually are quite fascinating! We have been cursing the darn things and making plans to remove most of them, but after telling Tony about their many benefits and features, he thinks they are great trees now! The main selling point for him is that the wood is great to burn, and rates second to coal in heat production. Of course anything related to heating, energy, and coal would be of interest to Tony.

I did find the natural insect repellent to be appealing, so I think I am going to go surround the perimeters of my house with them. I will find out if it really works!

If you are curious about these trees and want to learn more, you can go to this website. There are several great informative articles listed on this site.

Is it floam?

So, last year when we moved to Kansas, we encountered this very unusual object for the first time in our lives.It was really funny actually, because the first Sunday we went to church, there were several of these scattered around the parking lot. I thought it looked like balls of floam. I had never actually seen floam in person, but it looked like what I had seen on tv, and I assumed maybe the youth had an activity at the church with floam or something.It wasn't until I started to notice these things EVERYWHERE, including my backyard, that I realized it wasn't floam after all. What the heck were these strange things?





I know I have mentioned before that we have a lot of trees in our backyard. Well, it just so happens that it is basically a row of these trees all through our backyard.The weird thing is that when you look up in the trees, you cannot see these things at all! And then all of a sudden they are all over the ground. After all the leaves fall off the trees, then you can see them, but not before. Considering the size of these things,maybe I should start having Logan wear a helmet when he goes outside to play.




So, I have learned by now what these things are. Do you know what they are????

Eclipse

So, no pillowcase yet. I have very good reason, however. I borrowed Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer from a girl at church yesterday. I was up late last night, and finished reading it today. It was a rainy, stormy day, and perfect for reading all day! Ok, so now I am having withdrawal. I can't stop thinking about it! It is going to kill me to wait for the fourth book now. And even worse, they are talking about making Twilight into a movie, which won't be out until 2010!!!!why do they have to torture me so???

O.k. I am a grown-up. I can wait.(sigh....) This is a very intriguing series, and definitely part of my favorites now.I better go to bed so I can dream about vampires and werewolves now. Sweet dreams! (Do I sound like a psycho?)

Sewing projects

I feel like my life has been totally boring and unexciting lately, which is why I haven't blogged about anything. Last Thursday I hosted book group at my house, and I wanted to have somewhat nice looking Fall decorations. When I worked at Bath & Body Works, I bought quite a few Halloween tealight holders, and it seems that all my decor is based around candles. I need something new. I wanted something cute for my table, so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a fall floral bouquet, and some fabric to make a runner. I originally wanted to make a table cloth, but the fabric I chose isn't wide enough, so a runner it is. I made it really fast (for me anyway) that morning, so I would have it in time for book group. I am really pleased with how it turned out, and even more proud of myself that I made it on my own. Ok, I know sewing up a few hems, or seams or whatever doesn't sound too hard, and it really wasn't. I am just thinking of easy to sew projects for me to practice my sewing skills.




I also let Logan choose some fun Halloween fabric and I am going to make him a Halloween pillowcase for his bed. I thought that would be fun, and again something simple to make. I need to get it made like tomorrow so he can use it for a few weeks! I will be sure to post the finished project when I am done!

Conference Traditions

Where is Fall? It is not here, I can tell you. It was 87 degrees today, and I don't see hardly any colored leaves. I do not feel like Fall is here. I can't bring myself to get out my decorations, and I normally can't wait to put out my Fall/Halloween decor. I associate Conference week-end with the start of Fall. There is usually a hint of cool and crisp weather, and many leaves are already fall colors. This year is weird. Actually, I don't remember what it was like last year...we had just barely moved here.Maybe it is normal for Kansas. I don't know.

So, I have thought for a while about having some kind of conference traditions. I haven't started any yet, as I am still trying to think of what things would be best. Today we started off with a breakfast of Oatmeal pancakes. I made some homemade Pico de Gallo (salsa) and guacomole. We munched on it during the afternoon session.I like the homemade salsa and guac instead of a big lunch or dinner. Just snacks.Yummy. My dad used to make homemade scones with honey butter when we were young and I loved it. It wasn't for conference, but it might make a good tradition. I have thought about making scones and homemade root beer for Halloween. I probably wiill try it this year.

So, here is the Pico de Gallo recipe I made today.

Pico de Gallo

8 good-sized Roma tomatoes, diced
2 Tbls. minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 large white onion, diced
2 tsp. salt
ground pepper to taste
optional jalapeno pepper, diced

Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl.Add chopped cilantro, and jalapeno if using. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, and cilantro until you reach the desired flavor.

I am loving these flavors lately. Yesterday, we had tacos for dinner along with this super yummy confetti rice recipe. That is why I made the salsa..I had leftover cilantro I needed to use. It seriously is sooooo good. It is served warm, but i snacked on it later straight from the fridge, and it was good cold too.

Tex Mex Confetti Rice

1 cup water
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 small tomato, chopped
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
2 green onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro or (1 tbsp dried*)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and stir in rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Add remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until heated through.

So, let me know if you try any of these recipes. The rice is fantastic! Also, let me know if you have any conference traditions! I would love to hear what you do! And don't forget to share your winning chili recipes!

Chili wanted

So, I braved it this year and signed up to bring chili for the ward Halloween party. Last year they did have judges. I haven't heard about this year, but I am guessing there will be. I am trying to find the perfect chili recipe to make.

I was trying to decide between Maren's Cincinnati Chili, which has barbecue sauce and chocolate amongst the ingredients, or Andrea's Black Bean chili. I have both of these recipes from the Lafayette recipe group, and I know I have tasted Andrea's chili, and remembered it was really good. I don't remember if I ever tried Maren's, but I trust her recipes to be winners.

So, please give me your feedback about which recipe I should make, or if you have a winning chili recipe, please send it my way. Even if mine doesn't win, I want to make sure it isn't just your average chili. I want it to be gooooood!

Gracias.

Sing sweet myvindale

Logan has beed hooked on Cinderella lately. He wants to watch it over and over again. This morning after having watched it twice, he was singing along to "Sing sweet Myvindale". Huh?? What's a myvindale?I tried to correct him and tell him that it was nightingale, but he insisted that it was myvindale.Ok. then.If you say so Sir.

I haven't blogged this week because I was tryign to get my Enrichment night prepared for. It was on Wednesday. Now it is over, and I can relax a tiny bit. I have to get cracking on our Christmas enrichment which is the beginning of December. I will wait until Conference is over before I start in on that one.

So, Halloween is coming up. I always think I have plenty of time to get halloween costumes planned, but then it is always the last minute and I have nothing! I really want Avery to be a little fairy. I just think that she will be soooo cute! My cousin's wife has a costume her little girl wore last year, so they are sending it to me. That's a relief. Now on to Logan. I have asked him several times over the last little while what he wants to be and he keeps telling me he wants to be a ghost.Alrighty then! That seems simle enough. I do need to figure out how to make it so his head isn't covered, so he can see better, and so he can go to the church halloween party.I was thinking of getting a white hoodie sweatshirt, so his head would be covered, but his face would be visible. If anyone knows where to find one, let me know! Our ward Halloween party is on the 20th, so I only have a few weeks.I figure i will somehow transform a white sheet into a cape-like configuration to go on top of his sweatshirt. That's the plan anyway.

Avery is getting very mobile. She scoots around everywhere. I am going to have to make sure to keep my kitchen floor very clean!She tries to eat everything!We did discover however that she does not like formula. I had Tony try to feed her a bottle the other night while I was at enrichment. I guess she shuddered at it. He also tried to mix it in her cereal, and she wouldn't eat it like that either. I am surprised, since she seems to eat everything else. I thought she would take it no problem!

We are all getting a bit sleep deprived around here lately. Avery has decided to wake up twice a night, and Logan has decided that he doesn't like to be alone at night either, and ends up in bed with us. With Tony having to get up at 4:45 a.m., it really doesn't help with the sleeping situation at all. Needless to say, the days are a bit rough because of it.

So that's the extremeley interesting goings on in my life currently. I knew you would all be so interested, but I felt bad going a week between posts. I will try to do better.