Pumpkin Carving Fun

We wanted to have a pumpkin carving night with a few families in our back yard next to a camp fire, but as the evening grew closer for the event we had planned, the weather wasn't cooperating. Last minute we moved the fun inside at the church and ended up having a blast regardless of the change in venue.

We started the evening with a potluck soup night. After the food we played some games and had some family competitions. The game pictured below was a contest to see who could throw the most candy corns into their team members bucket, which happened to be strapped to them

NO HANDS ALLOWED. Zach improvised and started catching them in his mouth and then spitting them into his bucket. The little turkey smoked his competition as a result of his genius.

Way to go stud!!

Next came the..."who can make the best mummy" contest with only 3 rolls of toilet paper.

Ky was our mummy. He did a great job.

Let the pumpkin carving begin.

Thanks for making this a fun and memorable pumpkin carving night for our family!

"Mom can we use you camera to make movies?"

Of course my answer is always YES to this question. Letting the kids use my video camera provides them with hours of fun, thinking up plays, skits, and dance routines to record and then watch back later. They love it, and I love that they are using there imaginations instead of frying there brain in front of the TV!

Here's 1 of the 15 short videos I found on my camera, taped by the kids today.

(Hudson, singing Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees. "Ah ha ha ha, Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive.")

Recorded sideways for your viewing pleasure :)

Adult Halloween Party

Tonight we went to an adult Halloween party at the Steward’s house. Dan and I dressed up as a “trailer trash” couple (excuse that politically incorrect term). Both costumes were fun, but what really made the outfits work was when Dan would totally get into character. With the perfect tone, and accent, he would start talking about his old lady, his 3 legged dog, and would even shout out, “Damn It, who took my beer? I’m serious….who took it? Bill, did you take my dang beer, this aint funny!!!"

Seriously, you had to be there. It was funny. On the car ride home and most of the evening after the party he wouldn’t break character, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. That’s for all of the fun tonight hun!

Hubba-Hubba

The boys tried on our teeth before we left for the party :)

Everyone looked fabulous in their costumes tonight .

The Stout’s took home the grand prize for there costume of Kip and Lafawnda from Napoleon Dynamite. Craig you made one FINE looking black lady :)

Kindergarten Fieldtrip with Kase

Kase took Hudson and I to the Pumpkin patch, with his Kindergarten class today, to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. Even though the kids have been out to the Country Mercantile dozens of times, they still are always super excited to go and have a ton of fun while they're there.

Climbing the Straw Pyramid.

Choosing the perfect Pumpkin.

A news crew was out filming at the pumpkin patch today and Kase made it on the 5 o'clock news. He's famous! Here's the link below to check him out.

Elementary school students and fall activities

Kase finally gets to play soccer

Kase has been waiting forever to turn 5 so he could start playing a sport. His first choice was... SOCCER! Over the years he has patiently sat through many of his older siblings sporting events but now it's his turn for practices once a week, bringing the snacks on game day and being the Soccer Star. He is on an awesome soccer team with all of his friends from church so it's been a ton of fun for him. 4 games down with 4 more to go for this fall season, then he'll play with them all again in the spring. GO SHARKS!

Friday morning with Hudson Jax

In my 10 short years of parenting I've learned, that when you have a 2 year old in your home, there are many things you should put away IMMEDIATELY after use.

I've had to learn the hard way with... Sugar, butter, Salt n' Pepper, Flour, Frosting, marker, glue, shampoo, fingernail polish, and toothpaste. (Just to name a few) And now I can add syrup to the list.

Here is Hudson helping me clear off the breakfast table right after the kids had left to school this morning.

Time to get your groove on. LET'S DANCE!!!

Watching a little Dora and Mickey from inside the couch cushions.

"This Potty Training stuff is FUN!"

1 hour down. Another 12 entertaining hours to go :)

GOT Tomatoes?

Here's what the kids brought in from the garden today.

Holy Tomatoes!!!

What should I do with all of these???

After Cleaning, peeling, and cutting them, here's what I decided on...

Homemade Salsa

And

Tomato Bisque

Tomato Bisque

1/2 cup butter

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 to 1 cup grated carrot

1/3 cup flour

2 cans tomatoes (or fresh, quartered tomatoes)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp basil

1 tsp marjoram

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp curry

1/4 tsp white pepper (black works too)

1 pint whipping cream

salt

In a large pan, sauté celery, onions and carrots in butter until cooked. Add flour and cook for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, sugar, basil, marjoram and broth and cook.

Pour into blender and blend until chunks are smooth. (it will take several blender loads. Be careful to not get sprayed with hot soup. Use a towel to hold blender lid on.)

Pour back into pan and stir in paprika, curry and pepper. Salt to taste.

Add whipping cream.

Thanks for the recipe Linda.

YUMMY!

"THE DIRT PILE"

Today we took the kids up to Ritzville for Drew's birthday Party!

Leslie had a ton of fun stuff set up for them to do. They did THIS...

... and THIS...

... a little of THIS...

... of course some of THIS...

... and THIS.

After a while I noticed 3 of my kids were missing from all of the fun activities so I started looking for them and found them here... THE DIRT PILE.

(Part of Bryce and Drew's motorcycle track)

No, we didn't find them BY the dirt pile or even ON the dirt pile, they were buried IN the dirt pile!!!

These pictures were taken after we tried shaking, brushing, and beating all of the dirt off of them. They reminded me of Pig Pen on Charlie Brown. Every time the would move, a big billowy dirt cloud would come off their bodies.

I don't know how you keep your house so clean Les. Hard wood floors, one huge dirt pile right outside, and 4 little boys coming in and out all day. I think I would pull my hair out.

One thing I will say though... My kids always have a blast when they come to the "farm" in Ritzville. Thanks for inviting us.

Grandma gets a puppy

Today my mom and dad made this little purchase. Her name is Zoe.

Isn't she cute?

The coolest part about my parents getting a dog is that my kids can get their puppy fix anytime they want and I don't have to worry about poop in MY yard, or MY toys and furniture being chewed up, or hair all over MY couch and allergy problems. Thanks Mom, we're glad you finally got a dog :)

Alaina coined the term, “Crazy Wednesday”

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed today.

Here's my current Wednesday schedule.

Kids get home from school at 1:50 (Early Release)

2:00 to 3:00 Activity Days (Alaina)

3:00-4:00 Cub Scouts (Ky)

4:00-5:00 Piano Lessons (Ky and Alaina)

5:30-6:30 Soccer Practice (Kase and Hailey)

6:40-6:50- Dinner ??

7:00-8:30 YW Mutual (Me)

8:30-9:30 YW Presidency Mtg every other week (Me)

10:00pm Breathe

I feel like a chauffeur all day. Today Alaina asked, from the back seat of the mini van, "Mom, what do we have left on our "Crazy Wednesday" Schedule?"

The fact that Alaina has coined the phrase made me stop and think....Yeah it is pretty crazy. The kids practically live in the back seat of the van ALL AFTERNOON from one event to the next.

I shouldn't complain too much though there is an up side to having our Wednesday packed so full... We have 6 other days of the week with not a lot going on. Plus, this soccer season has been a blessing from a scheduling perspective in that Kase and Hailey's soccer practice happens to be at the same place and time as one another. Somebody must love me :)

I remember last season NOT being Fun. Between Ky and Hailey we had 4 practices at 4 different times and at different locations.

So I guess I don't mind having a "Crazy Wednesday" once a week. Alaina, might....but I better be careful not to complain to much. Or may find myself with a truly rough schedule next spring.

Climbing Badger with a few first timers.

Before my sisters got on the road to head home this morning I tricked them into climbing Badger Mountain with me. The kids and I took Leslie, Megan, and my Mom (first timers) all the way to the top. They did great and it was actually a lot of fun to do it together and a great way to start the morning.

Sorry Brianna.. It was just too funny.

With Megan, Melissa, and Leslie all in town tonight, we decided to throw together a little granddaughter game night with Grandma Rose.

A few of the highlights from tonight were...

The yummy treats.

Fun games.

Lots of laughing.

Someone telling Megan Pratt she needed to get loud if she wanted to be heard over everyone else in the game we were playing. On our next round of the game Megan stood up, leaned across the table and screamed (and I mean screamed) the answer... simultaneously scaring a little bit of pee out of each one of us. So Funny!

Another funny moment was when Brianna starting getting super hyper, silly, and giddy. We were teasing her about acting like that and she finally said," I don't know what's wrong with me, the last time I felt like this was when I had caffeine. But I'm just drinking Cream Soda."

Here's Brianna discovering her "sparkling" Cream Soda did indeed have caffeine in it.

Ohhhhhhhh Man... I had 4 years clean. Dang it.

Whoa...why is the room spinning?

Okay maybe I'll just finish off this glass.

Here's the whole gang.

(Notice Brianna looking for someone to toast with her.)

Probably my favorite moment tonight was this...

All night the kitchen kept getting too Hot then too cold then too Hot again. Several people ended up saying, "I'm Hot". And Grandma said, "Oh don't say that." And then went on to explain that her mother always told her there were two things you should never say to a boy. Never ask a boy..."Can I sit on your lap?" or say to him, "I'm Hot".

This picture is of me teasing Grandma by telling her I'm hot and then asking to sit on her lap. She laughed and maybe even blushed a little.

Grandma, How do you know so much on this subject? :)

Things I discovered tonight...

-Megan may look Tiny and Soft Spoken but Watch Out, she can get loud if needed :)

-If you're looking for a good time... Give Brianna caffeine. I think her drink of choice is Dr. Pepper :)

-I probably sat on a few to many laps in my younger years. If only I would have known that rule. Whoops!