Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Oreganos, friends and pazooki!

  Who brings a green apple out to eat?  Winston does. 
One of my best friends, Kimberly, and her kids came out to eat with us on Monday.  We showed them what delicious Italian food is in Gilbert, AZ.  Oreganos is a family favorite for many reasons, but the most important reason is for its dessert, The Pazooki a.k.a., The Pizza Cookie.
 The first bite is always the best!
 Truman and I shared the white chocolate chip macadamia nut pazooki.  Everyone else shared the chocolate chip kind.
 Rick sampling some sweet potato fries with Oreganos delightful dipping sauce.
It was so fun to have Kimberly here for an extended period of time!  Next it's my turn to visit her up in Utah.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Mustache and Thanksgiving.

 This is the newest member of our family.  Rick's sister, Juilette, had him in August.  His name is Wes and he's adorable.
Some of the peeps watching the traditional kick ball game.  Note the mustache. 
Tiffany and Violet.   Tiffany is a new red head.  I can't get used to her not being a blond so I told her,
"Every time you want to speak, you need to start your sentence with 'I'm Tiffany' so I'm not confused when the red haired lady is talking."
Jake, Jonathan & Chelsea watching the hot air balloon.
Quinn sported this mustache for two days along with some cousins.
He reminds me of Mario from those video games.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Hot air.

 Last night, after the turkey, and pies, oh my, the pies, we had a hot air balloon spring up in my in-law's green belt next to their home.   
 It was a Thanksgiving miracle! 
I was giddy.  I didn't even know how much that a balloon full of hot air would thrill me.
But, it did.

 The kids even climbed into the basket.
 Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Ted the Terrible.

Have you ever had a pet ruin your carpet or anything for that matter?  I have.  I hate it.  Some time ago Ted ate a big circle of carpet in Quinn's room during the night.  Tricky dog, he waited for us to go to sleep.  To cover it up I've moved his bed over the top of it and when I re-arranged his room, I put a rug (bath rug) over it to hide it.  What really needs to happen is either I need to hire someone to come in to re-patch the carpet or get  new flooring.  I try not to think about it but, it's plainly there.
 Maybe I'll find a really cool rug to put over it.  I don't know, it's kind of weird to put a carpet on top of a carpet.  At least I think it's weird.
Here it is.  
Pay no attention to the sword next to the bed.  If you were a 10 year old boy, you'd have a sword (with the handle chewed by the dog) next to your bed too.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

My heart is full.

Quinn has a lot of Legos.  A lot.  The other day he asked me if I could pick up some containers at Target so that he can sort his Legos by color.  That request made my heart sing.  I can honestly say I don't think any of my four children have ever made such a pleasing appeal.
We're just getting started sorting.  Although tedious, a complete satisfaction fills my soul.  (Is this getting too spiritual?)  
Disregard the table.  It is Cole's art table that Quinn wanted in his room while Cole is on his mission.  The table also has a history of years of service in my mother-in-law's pre-school.  It's solid, but really beside the point... 
We only have two boxes left to sort.  I like Jabba the Hut waving.  It's totally not staged.  Really. 

Monday, November 14, 2011

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies


When I was in 7th grade I took Home Economics with my best friend, Kristine.  She entered these cookies in the State Fair and won first place (I entered an elephant shaped pillow, but that's another story).  Since then I've made them from time to time and each time I feel like the judges got it so right!  These are blue ribbon cookies.
Now Cole, my son who is on a mission Japan, has specifically asked for these cookies to be baked and sent to him overseas.  I am happy to oblige....though I'm not sure how fresh they'll be. 

Here are the ingredients:

2 Cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix granulated sugar, oil, chocolate and vanilla.  Mix in eggs, one at a time.  Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.  Cover and refrigerate at least three hours.  Heat oven to 350.  Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls.  Roll in powdered sugar.  Place about 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.  Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched - 10 to 12 minutes.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Dance Fever!

Forgive me whilst I indulge in a lot of blurry pictures.  See, the music was playing and we were moving and obviously I don't know how to use my camera settings, thus the blur.  However, it does give you an idea of how fast these kids were moving.  I may have even been caught doing a few robot-type moves myself.


Here's the good part.  While we all jammed, and I mean jammed, Rick read the funnies.  If you're wondering what he does after being down at the church from 6:30 a.m until after 5:00 p.m. on any given Sunday, wonder no more.  The mystery is cleared up now.  You're welcome.
More dancing. 
Stopping to smile. 
A schrunchy smile. 
Have I mentioned Em and family moved in with us temporarily?  They're house hunting and their lease was up and hey, we had two empty rooms, so it was natural.  I'm loving it!  Mr. Winston is fabulous.  His parents aren't bad either.
More dancing after I found my "indoor" setting on my camera.  (Are we the only ones left on this planet who don't own a flat screen TV?...see background ...I'm trying hard not to be embarrassed.  We purchased our dinosaur the season before the flat screens hit the market.  I now know why it was so cheap!)
Someone save the baby.  What are they dancing to?  "Hey Ya" by Outkast, of course!
Oh, and this little boy started walking today.  He was chasing a girl at church and took off. 



Who wouldn't love that face?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

It's a Moo Moo nation

Pluses about wearing a moo moo:
1. In the off chance you put it on inside out, it can go undetected by the naked eye.  (See photo above.  We didn't realize it was inside out until we realized the hem was facing out.)
2.  Bamas (grandmas) and young women alike can wear them in the same decade/century, take your pick.
3.  One size fits most.   As in this case; this is a hand me down (or up, depending on how you look at it).  Bama gifted this to Emily who will proudly wear it.  Bama happens to be 4'9" and more round than not.  Emily is 5'5" and not round at all.

This is how it looks right side out.....now I can see a big difference.  We were too busy enjoying the moo moo that we didn't even notice it was on wrong for some time.  Simple pleasures.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Cross Country Scholar....word.

Last night we had the cross country banquet where Truman received an award for being an athlete with a GPA over 3.5.  That boy has some skills.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

S'mores!

S'mores are messy no matter how you eat them  Last night we lit up the chiminea and had ourselves a little dessert in the backyard.  They got all over our faces and hands.  Yum. 

Monday, November 7, 2011

Cinnamon roll cake...are you kidding me?!

Yes, please. 
I found this cake recipe on Pinterest the other day and knew I had to make it, so I did!  It is everything you'd ever want in a cinnamon roll but so much easier and faster to make.  You can find the recipe here:
Enjoy!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Blowing bubbles

This little boy got into the dish soap last week.  Not knowing if it would hurt him or not, his mom called Poison Control to which they told her to let him drink water and not to worry.  I told his mom, "We'll know if he got too much soap if  bubbles come out his bottom."  I know, graphic but funny (at lease to me), nonetheless.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Halloweek!

Halloween has earned a new name, Halloweek!  I'm pretty sure it's not just me who feels there are so many activities in honor of the last day of October.  Each year I feel that there are more celebrations and outings attributed toward Halloween than Christmas, minus the gifts.  Although, I did purchase a ton of candy that could, in fact, be viewed as a gift.  Still, there's something magical about carving a pumpkin with your kids.  Truman wasn't home when Quinn and I (mostly me, who are we kidding?) carved his pumpkin.  I feel bad that I didn't take a picture of Truman's pumpkin that he did end up carving, all by his-self!

Quinn ended up going as a 1920's gangster, Baby Face Nelson.  I'm not making that up.  Don't ask. The red cloth around his neck happens to be his pillow case to place his Halloween loot in.  He didn't want to use the darling pumpkins I've had forever...sad.  Truman went as a burnt marshmallow.  He looked so good that none of the pictures I took of him turned out....I took them outside after dark and my camera is dumb.
Happy Halloweek!!