Holiday prep

His transmission went out, but it still didn't dampen his holiday spirit.

We are deep in the throes of holiday prep over here.

Uncle Ben should be passing through soon.  

Aunt Elizabeth is flying in tomorrow.

There's a 15 lb naked bird thawing in the fridge.

Today I stocked up on 18 bags of super sweet white corn for .69/piece.

(gotta get my year supply)

I also bought fresh cranberries, heavy cream, and plenty of butter.

David Archuleta is singing Christmas songs on Pandora,

and we're on our way to the Jubilee of Trees for Family Home Evening.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

But I don't mind a little Christmas either.

I think they go hand in hand.

May your turkey be moist, your gravy without lumps, your rolls un-burned,

and may your vacuum be able to suck up all the glitter from your 

Christmas decor before it spreads like herpes.

Sponge"Bub" Square Hat

Thanks to everyone who voted in our Dinner Campaign.  We were supposed to have our dinner on Monday night, but I had one of my "gallbladderless attacks" and wasn't feeling well.  I'll post pics when we have our Navajo Taco's, Grapes, Egg Nog, and Hot Fudge Cake.

This box, which came with a pendant light that I recently scored a fantastic deal on, has been the life of the party at our house this week.  Who knew that cardboard could be this much fun.

Justin calls Caleb, "Bub", so we have nicknamed him "SpongeBub Square Hat". 

Brayden came home from school today and got out everything I would need to make banana bars, right down to the measuring cups and frozen bananas.

I can take a hint...

Apparently, Justin likes the icing best.

the end of a season

It's going to freeze here tonight, so I thought I'd post a few pictures of the end of our growing season.

Our morning glory monstrosity has turned into our "love fern". 

(quick, name that movie)

Left:  (where the sun don't shine)                                                       Right: (where the sun do shine)                                                                    

We finally harvested the pomegranates from the neighbor's tree that hangs into our yard.  I bet we got 50-60 total! I'm planning to freeze them on a cookie sheet so they won't stick together, and then put them into snack bags to throw in the kids' lunches.  I noticed today that pomegranates in the grocery store were on sale for $2.50 a piece.  Kinda makes me want to plant another tree!

I have a whole bunch of green tomatoes, but only a few of them ripened in time for the frost.  I'm debating whether to pick the rest of the green ones and let them ripen inside, or "tuck them in" with a blanket for the next few days.  I'm still kind of "geeking out" over the fact that I just picked tomatoes out of my garden in November.

And speaking of the end of another season, Dillon finally lost his other front tooth.  I told him he wasn't allowed to wiggle it, but while I was out one evening, he pulled it anyway.  My parents always say that when kids lose their front teeth they go from being puppies, to dogs.  I think in Dillon's case, he looks more like....

...one of those smug little green pigs from Angry Birds.

Our smartypants baby is growing up as well.  The other day, after Caleb learned about Morse Code in Scouts, Todd pulled it up on his iPad.  We were all surprised when Justin started naming the letters as they appeared on the screen.  I think someone's been watching too much Super Why.

Dinner Campaign 2012

It is time once again for our sometimes annual family dinner campaign,

and once again we are asking for your help.

Most years, during election week, every member of our family nominates a main dish, side dish, drink, and dessert that they would like to have for dinner the following Monday night. We make posters, hang them around our house, and vote to determine what we'll have for our special dinner. 

 In order for this activity to work, we have to narrow down our nominee's down to two choices in each category before our final, private vote (otherwise everyone just votes for their own nominee).  Please take a moment to review our posters, and vote for the food that you feel would best serve our family.

The polls will be posted in our sidebar, and are open until Friday, November 9th at 10:00 PM MST.

Dillon's nominees:  Snow cones, Grapes, Egg nog, and Pizza.

Caleb's nominees: Banana bars, Hawaiian Haystacks, Fish Crackers, and Fruit Punch.

Brayden's nominees: Sprite, Navajo Taco's, Glazed carrots, and Strawberry Lemonade Cake.

My nominees: Chocolate milk, Beets, Cilantro Lime Tilapia, and Hot Fudge Cake.

In case you can't read it, the warning on my beet poster states: "Excessive beet consumption has been known to cause red urine in the state of California. These statements have not been approved by the FDA"

Todd's nominees:  

Barbecued Chicken, Dutch Oven Potatoes, Root Beer, and "Our Favorite Chocolate Cake".

And last, but not least, Justin's nominees:  

Deli ham w/Cheese Stick, "Grapies", Dum Dum Sucker, and Milk.

He tried so hard to finish his posters but he was just too tired. He fell asleep with his marker in hand, and slobbered all over his third poster. 

Since Grandma is living in our area for the winter, we invited her to join in our campaign. She failed to turn in her posters by the due date, but her nominees are: Spaghetti, Green Salad, Water with a lemon, and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

Thank you for participating, and may the best meal win!

Feel free to take a sticker:

*My incredibly talented sister made me a new header. Thanks, Char!

Halloween

This year, for the first time ever, our kids experienced "real" trick-or-treating where you walk door to door around the neighborhood.  I've always been a huge fan of trunk-or-treat because I love getting it over with in 20 minutes, but I may have to change my tune.  It was kind of fun to run into ward members while we were out and about, and the best part was that the kids were so tired they put themselves to bed at 8:30!

Brayden dressed up as a wizard (neither of us knew how to tie a tie, and since Todd wasn't home when we left, he couldn't wear his red/yellow Harry Potter tie--he had to choose one that was already tied).

Caleb decided two days ago that he wanted to be Jack Sparrow.  We used the hair that I made for Dillon's birthday earlier this year, and cut up one of my old shirts for his vest.  We used our fireman boots and covered the yellow stripe with electrical tape.

Dillon went as a bat, using a costume I made for Brayden a few years back. Easy peasy.

I went "all out" and put spiderwebs on my eyelids...that's the most "costume" I've worn in years!

Justin had expired by the time we took the picture above.  He went as a cowboy (much to Todd's dismay--"a cowboy is not a costume it's a way of life").  Here is a picture from earlier in the day as he was throwing a fit during the costume parade at the elementary school (which happened to be during naptime). 

 And here are the obligatory photos of the costume parade.  I missed our old school when I had to park clear out in timbuktu and carry a cranky toddler for miles (uphill both ways) to watch the parade.

 "But why the rum?"

In other news, Todd was able to fix my computer last night! The bad news is that he used Windows 8, and now my beloved (and ancient) Photoshop Elements 5.0 will not run.  Sigh.  Since living here, I've lived for 4 months without a printer, 3 months without my computer, and now I'm without Photoshop.  It's like losing a limb.  I think not having photoshop will be the hardest.  It's really the only program I use anymore.  I can't change my blog header without it, so I guess it will be August on the blog for quite awhile...