What Could Be Better Than Bunco AND Costumes

Every month I get together with a crazy bunch of ladies for BUNCO night! Last night Marcy hosted and she had everyone wear their costumes. As always we had lots of fun! Here's a recap of the evening...

Here's Marcy the Host...not quite sure what to call her costume but she was definitely scary! She won Most Buncos....AGAIN! Somehow she's been on this winning streak the last few months...

Yours truly as Cruella DeVil. I got the prize for Most Wins...
Jane was so focused on remembering to bring the tables and chairs to Marcy's house that she left her costume at home. She ended up with the traveller prize...
Cindy and Hydi were Ghostbusters and Angie aka Petey was a fugitive...
Kristy was Wonder Woman...Wow, check out those boots...seriously, the picture doesn't even do them justice... Angie aka Fonz was a deviled egg...love the creativity on this one...she got my vote for best costume!

Ang was GI Jane...she totally could have pulled off the shaved head look but didn't :)

Mandi, the black kitty...I wish the picture showed her long pink eyelashes. They were the coolest...

Tonya came as a doctor. Here she is giving Wonder Woman a check up...

Denise somehow missed out on the pictures. She had a creative costume as well...she taped small cereal boxes all over her with plastic knives in them... she was a "Cereal" Killer...hahaha!

Marcy was creative (okay so it was Mandi's idea) with dinner. Warning: This is not for the weak stomach! We had:

Bloody Maget stew (Taco Soup) in skulls (Bread Bowls) topped with Dried Skin Chunks (Fritos), Shredded Brain Matter (Cheese), and Whipped Eyeball Whites (Sour cream); Jolly Green Giant Boogers (Spinach Salad); for drinks it was Ghost Urine (bottled water) or Thinned Blood (pink Crystal Light); and the dessert was Bile Cake (a layered dessert made with Pistachio Pudding). Thanks, Marc, for the great party!

In A Dinner Rut...Recipe Tag

Lately I haven't been much in the mood to make dinner. I think I need some new ideas so I'm making up a little "Recipe Tag". I'm going to post an easy dinner recipe and then you post one on your blog and tell people to do the same. Then leave me a comment telling me so I can have a new recipe! Easy recipes that have common or few ingredients are best!

Chicken Casserole

2 C. cubed, cooked chicken
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 C. milk
1 C. coarsely crushed saltine crackers
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Mix crackers and butter. Put half in a casserole/baking dish. Layer chicken on top of crackers. Mix sour cream, cream of chicken soup and milk until creamy. Pour over chicken. Top with rest of crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve over rice. Complete the meal with a vegetable like steamed broccoli.

You can make this a little healthier by using fat free/reduced fat sour cream or plain yogurt, Campbell's Healthy Choice Cream of Chicken soup and leaving out the butter.

Gettin' a little R & R

Last week the girls had Fall Break so we headed to the cabin for a change from everyday life and activities! We went up Thursday after lunch and arrived at a very chilly cabin. After warming up and hanging out until dinner time, we headed to the Road Island Diner. It's a new attraction in Oakley complete with a server named Elmer! We met Cheryl and her family there as they were coming up to the cabin as well.

The rest of the time was spent on the ATV, making Halloween arts and crafts, playing with cousins, watching "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" on the projector, reading, a visit to Smith & Morehouse Reservoir for throwing rocks (and falling in), and overall having a nice, relaxing, fun time! Here's a sampling of the fun (we took over 100 pictures!)...Chris the Chauffeur waiting for the next rider... Landon, as happy as can be, waving goodbye. He spent most of his time on the ATV!

The couches transformed into the movie theater...

Book worm cousins, Ashlee and Jacob...

At the river on the south end of the reservoir...
Trevor getting up close and personal with nature...

Ashlee, making a big splash...

Forest friends...

Some Pig

Since Kirsten works for my parents, we got to attend the 2nd annual Glacier Food Service family picnic a few weeks ago. My parents brought in a whole pig as the main course. It was a small one, only about 75 pounds.

Grandpa getting ready to carve the pig:



Now that's a drumstick:



Ashlee & Brynlee posing:



Lando standing far away, not sure what to think:



There are a few more pictures posted on my Flickr account if you want more.

Don't forget to vote

I posted what I thought was a great message about voting from Craig Ferguson on my other blog last week. Since Kirsten lets me moonlight on "her blog" I will take just a second to refer you there for this reminder. Craig, who is from Scotland, just became a U.S. citizen earlier this year, so this will be his first time voting here.

Snow, Snow...Bye, Bye Fall

This weekend, Jack Frost decided to visit Utah. We didn't get as much snow as some parts of the state (some places got a foot by Sunday...in the valleys not mountains). Not much had stuck around here but then last night we got a little bit more (maybe an inch if that) and this morning the kids decided there was enough to play in. I'm sure it will be gone by the afternoon. It's supposed to warm up again this week so hopefully we'll be able to enjoy some more Fall weather before winter really hits!

View from the back porch
Brynlee all bundled up to keep warm...I'm sure in 5 minutes they'll be begging for hot chocolate, of which I have none :)
Brynlee and her "snow" angel
Landon and Brynlee attempt to go sledding. The funny thing is that they've been doing this on our front porch steps for the last couple weeks.
Cheesy Landon...I can't get him to smile normally when posed!

The kids begged me to take a video so here you go...

I love Landon at the end..."Mommy?" "What." "Take a video"

Cinnamon Rolls

Sorry I don't have a picture to go with this. For some reason I didn't take any. A lady in my class made these and brought them to class, and I told her she had to put the recipe on the class wiki site. Apparently she has a Bosch that can make like 7 loaves worth of bread dough, hence the large volume of ingredients.

I made half the recipe and it was overflowing out of the KitchenAid and still made a 9x13 pan of cinnamon rolls, plus two loaves of bread. You might want to divide everything by four, but then you'd miss out on the great bread in addition to the great cinnamon rolls. My comments are in [].


Basic dough recipe

Add to bowl in this order:

8 cups of 105 degree water
¾ cups vegetable oil
¾ cup sugar
2 Tbs Salt
3 Tbs instant yeast
8 cups of flour
Mix ingredients together on lowest setting. [I also put in a Table spoon each of Dough Enhancer and Gluten.]

Let mixture set and proof until mixture rises almost to the top of mixing bowl.

Add more flour one cup at a time (6-8 cups) with the mixer on medium until the dough pulls away and cleans the sides of the bowl. [I had to add a couple more cups than this to get it right.]


Cinnamon Rolls

Use 1/2 of the above dough mixture to make two 9x13 pans of cinnamon rolls; make the rest into bread.

Roll out dough into a rectangle
Melt 1/2 stick of butter and coat dough
Sprinkle on cinnamon to taste
Put on brown sugar to taste
Put on white sugar to taste
Add raisins and nuts if you like them

[Vague instructions, I know...put more sugar and cinnamon than you think you'll need.]

Roll dough and cut into pinwheels
Place in greased pans and let rise until double.
Bake at 350 on rack just below center for about 20-25 minutes.


Frosting

In a medium mixing bowl:

1 stick melted butter
4 oz of cream cheese (optional)
6-8 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbs evaporated milk

Stir together until smooth.
Drizzle on top of warm cinnamon rolls.
Serve with ice cold milk!

Myringotomy #5, I'm a Pro

Here's my cute little boy, sporting a very fashionable Looney Tunes hospital gown. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of witnessing my FIFTH myringotomy with tubes....a fancy, shmancy name for making an incision in the eardrum and putting a tube in. The tube basically looks like a teeny, tiny bobbin for all you seamstresses out there. After one set for Ashlee and three sets for Brynlee, I consider myself a pro. All the "this is what's going to happen...blah, blah, blah," I shake my head and say, yeah I've done this before.

So when Trevor had his first ear infection at his 6 month checkup, let's just say I was less than happy. He has now been on 5 rounds of antibiotics and I finally gave in to the fact that tubes were his destiny. I was a little disappointed that they didn't give me a dvd of the surgery...I wanted to post it for all you who haven't had the pleasure of experiencing it for yourself! During the surgery, I get to watch it on tv in another room and the doctor explains it all...not that I needed an explanation. I could have narrated it myself. The only other surgery I have on dvd (the others are on VHS) is Brynlee's last one, but I get a bit nauseated watching that one so I won't gross ya'll out!

He is recovering just fine...doesn't seem to be affected by it at all, except that he really dislikes the ear drops!

We decided to enjoy the beautiful fall weather on Saturday and went for a little hike along the Riverside Nature Trail in Logan Canyon. It is beautiful up there as the leaves are beginning to change and the weather was just peRfECt! We ended up being up there for about 3 hours. I love this time of year!

Master of the Army Crawl

Trevor is now 9 months old and has become mobile. It's funny how with your first child, you can't wait for them to crawl but with each next child, the longer they take, the better :) He has finally mastered the army crawl within the last couple weeks. Every once in a while, he'll get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth, but eventually he flops to his belly and goes after whatever he has his eyes on.

He had his well child checkup this morning. He weighs 19 lbs. 11 oz. and is 28 inches long (both 30th percentile). His right ear is still infected....looks like tubes are in the near future.

He is starting to graduate from pureed baby food. His favorites lately are Cheerios, baby Goldfish, and diced pears.

In the last month, he has gone from no teeth to four teeth, which probably explains his interrupted sleep pattern. He used to sleep for 12 hours at night with two 2 hour naps in the day. Lately, he screams for about 10 minutes at nap time before falling asleep for maybe an hour and has decided that waking up at 6 am, or 4 am, or 2 am is the thing to do. Luckily, it has only been one of those times each night, but still, I was really enjoying my full night of sleep for the last 5 months. This morning he slept until 7:45 so maybe he's starting to get back on his oh-so-nice sleeping schedule!

He loves to snuggle, is a big time thumb sucker, thinks his sisters are hilarious when they blow raspberries, and loves to flirt with anyone who looks his way with those big, beautiful blue eyes and contagious smile! We love our T Monkey!

The STEP is my friend

I have always been afraid of the step. Somewhere deep in my subconscious is a memory of trying to do step aerobics and failing miserably. Evidently I wasn't coordinated enough to step up and down, move my arms, and remember to breathe at the same time.

About a month ago, I was looking through the schedule of group fitness classes at the gym. There was that word...STEP...and my stomach began to get anxious, my breathing quickened. Should I try it again? Only it wouldn't be in the comfort of my own home. It may be in front of a million fitness buffs who will laugh at my uncoordinated attempts of working out. I decided the Basic Step class would be my best bet. Even better, it was at a time when I could workout and be home before Rob heads to work and the kids are awake...well, except for Ashlee, who is an early riser and gets her own breakfast.

So Thursday morning comes... my alarm goes off at 6:30 AM (don't know the last time I saw that time on the clock!), eat a banana, and I'm off to my first class which starts at 7:00. Butterflies are going crazy in my stomach and all I can repeat in my head is "THE STEP IS MY FRIEND!" Positive affirmation, right??

I get there and there is only one other girl there and her first time was Tuesday (it's a Tuesday/Thursday class). Sweet! The instructor was awesome and did things a little slower at first but it was still a great workout...about 45 of step and 15 minutes of toning. Three weeks later...the moves are getting more advanced, the workouts at a higher intensity, more people are coming to the class, and I am loving my new friend, the STEP.

Landon + Scissors = ME FURIOUS!!

The doorbell just rang. Our neighbors wanted the kids to come out and play. Landon is the only one home so I called down to him and he came slowly crawling up the stairs.

"Mom, I need to change my pants"

Great, I thought. He peed or pooped and didn't make it to the toilet....oh wait, he had a pull up on since I just picked him up from my friend's house while I volunteered in Brynlee's class. Then he stands up and his pant legs are basically shredded. Yep, FOR THE SECOND TIME, he took a pair of scissors to his clothes. A couple of weeks ago he cut a hole in a pair of Old Navy shorts...one of my favorites. Now, it's the pair of jeans THAT I JUST TOOK THE TAGS OFF OF THIS MORNING!!! What was going through his mind as he was snipping away, not once, not twice, not three times....wouldn't I like to know.

Okay, I think I'm a little better now. I can actually laugh a little bit at the thought of taking a picture of them and posting it but I'm still just too mad.

Refrigerator Magic

Lando: "Look, there's a secret button that makes the fridge be dark."

Anyone for Some Zucchini?

I keep forgetting to buy more baby food at the store for Trevor so I've had to been creative. I've blended up pears and added apple/pear juice to his rice or oatmeal cereal but he needed some vegetables. We had some zucchini so I decided to steam some and blend it up. He normally chows down anything we give him, but, well, you'll see how much he liked that...

Evidently he likes it whole...

Rob found two of these out in our garden...oops, I think we let them get a bit too big!

P.S. After I shot the video, I mixed some pears with the zucchini and he ate it right up...no more gagging...poor thing! The things we do to our children for a good laugh!

Backyard Picnic

Yesterday, Brynlee and Landon came to me and asked if they could have a picnic outside for lunch. Sure, sounds like fun. I made PB&J and even let them each drink an apple juice box that are usually reserved for Ashlee's school lunches. After awhile, they got distracted by the outdoors (Brynlee had eaten MOST of her sandwich, Landon I think ate one bite). They found a lady bug on a leaf and wanted me to come and see. After being away from the blanket for maybe 15 seconds, I turned around to see Trevor attacking Landon's leftovers! As I'm running to save the sandwich, my mind is thinking....PB, baby, PB, baby...not good! I'm sure Trevor was thinking...man, this is sooo good. Why don't I get this more often!

After washing the PB& J from his hands and face, I set him down and let him eat leaves instead! :) Notice I don't have pics of the PB&J on his face...didn't have time for pics when I was rescuing him from potential food allergies, but he can eat all the leaves he wants while I get some cute pictures!