More Videos!

Jason uploaded a bunch of videos from his phone, so here are some more:

This was taken a while ago, but I was watching a rerun of Glee, and Lucy goes to town dancing... ;-)



this next one is not the most thrilling one - just the kids sliding at Kidventure, but I'm sure the grandparents will enjoy!



Lucy loves driving her Barbie Jeep, and she's proficient now in driving it; her favorite thing is to drive herself into a corner and use the gear to switch to "backing up". The driving backwards is her favorite!

But, here in this video, she was just getting the hang of it. In this video, she's focusing on mastering her "Power Slide" ;-) THanks for the jeep, Papa and Lady!

The "Papa Book"!

Hallmark makes these really cool audio recording books you can buy, record your voice reading the book, and send to someone. My dad sent the kids the "Night Before Christmas" book last year, and just last week, he sent Lucy and Jack the book, "Grandpa and Me." Of course, he's "Papa," so we adjust the title.

Anyhow, the kids LOVE listening to it! And my dad does a great job narrating what's happening in the pictures and asking the kids questions as well as reading the text. Jack usually answers Papa's questions , and we've been trying to get a good video of him interacting with the story. This is the best we've been able to capture...

Jack's favorite page is the one with the monkeys, and you'll hear him repeat, "Ehhh, Monkeys!" each time they go to that page.

Thanks Papa! Enjoy!

We love when mommy changes the sheets!

It seems the "night sweats" that occur during pregnancy (for some, I guess...) have begun...I woke up the other day to a 40 degree morning, yet I was covered in sweat. And as much as I don't like changing the sheets, the kids LOVE it when I do, for they get to jump on the bed after the sheets come off!


Here we go!
this was a cool 180 spin jump! ;-) her uncles would be proud! ;-)

sleepy jack finally climbed up on the bed...

Lucy LOVES her brother!

check out the hand holding! awwwww...

sweet face!

despite jack's foot in her face, she's laughing!

and after jumping on the bed, they promply jump on toby!

goodbye to halloween

lucy drew the face on her pumpkin (on her right) and daddy carved it out. Jason made the other one ;-




I was organizing some photos this weekend, and I came across a few more I hadn't posted. These are from carving our pumpkin, though I should say "dremmeling our pumpkins," as Jason decided his dremmel tool would be awesome to use ;-)

Such an engineer...


Lucy checking out the tool!




And later that night we went to the Jim and Jamie Moore's for their annual Halloween Costume party. Here was our family all dressed up. Lucy was a ballerina, Jack a puppy dog, Jason a character from The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I was a baby factory. Jason did a GREAT job making my "factory"!



I love the baby on the conveyor belt - great idea, JAson!



And finally, here are some of Lucy enjoying carrying around her school pumpkin full of treats:


Lucy's favorite thing to do is go check the mail, everyday! She LOVES it! ;-)

My puppy dog loving on our puppy dog, toby...


Hope you had a great Halloween. Lucy has already announced she wants to be a fairy next year. We shall see... ;-)

How hard it is to get a good photo...

We had several families come over for a bite to eat and trick-or-treating as a group. It's so entertaining to me watching these sweet kids "do what kids do" as the grown ups tried earnestly to get a picture. Of course, as expected...there's not one where all of the children are even remotely cooperative...they're adorable just the same ;-)

Baby T and baby C were opposed from the start...



Already lost one...Lucy can't figure out where to put her feet so she doesn't bump C...



Jack: my confused puppy...


Okay, a few of the kids are smiling/happy, but K's face is priceless...she is not amused...



J is all smiles, but we're loosing C. and Jack...



this was the best one of the bunch...


What fun!

So, we headed out after this "photo session," and the kids did great trick or treating! Lucy and Audrey literally ran from house to house, leading our large pack.

Jack totally took to the whole process, smiling and saying "tstrick or treeet" and promptly adding "tdank dyou" after he was given (way too much) candy. But the third or fourth house, he began just barging on in as soon as the door opened, helping himself into various foyers, and plunging his hand into the candy bowl.

Of course, everyone thought this was hilarious, and allowed him to grab handfuls of candy. So, I became really quick at grabbing candy out of his bag, and returning it to the bowl. Generosity of the kind folks much appreciated, but seriously, he's not even two - he doesn't need all that candy! ;-)

Lucy never tired, and Jack was ready to stop about 30 minutes into our stroll around the neighborhood.

I think Skittles was the most popular candy, but the low point of rummaging through my kids' bags was when I realized there were no Mounds or Almond Joys to be found. So sad... ;-)

Jack's first sentence

Jack has been blooming in the last few months with his vocabulary. A few months ago, he was repeating just about whatever word we said, then he moved on to making lots of two-word phrases. Some of his most common phrases were: "hey dog," "more please," "what's that?" and of course, "No, No!"

But yesterday morning he uttered his first true sentence - fun milestone!

He had found a blue M & M in the crevice of his carseat, held it up to me and asked, "What's this?" (like he didn't know??? seriously...I know he knew ;-). I told him what it was and that he could eat it (Dad, I'm sure you're gasping at my allowing him to eat a "carseat M&M," but don't worry...no sign of disease has appeared -and I totally brushed it off before I gave it back to him - :-)

So he licked it (like he does with most of his food before he actually eats it,) achieved a good amount of blue smear around his mouth (we're on our way to school, greaaaat), and then promptly announced, with quite a bit of cheer I should add, "I ate it!"

So that was it, his first sentence, "I ate it!"

How fitting?!? I love it! Looking forward to what may pop out next!

Freezer Party

You should have seen my kitchen last night - what a sight! 11 of us ladies, stationed around the room, mixing bowls and ingredients ready to go.

I hosted another freezer party last night, and 11 of us gathered together to assemble meals. The way it works is each person chooses an entree to make, brings enough ingredients and materials - for that entree- for everyone attending, and leads everyone through making that dish.

We laughed at people's stories where the checkout person was asking them why in the world they were buying 25 cans of chicken broth at a time ;-)

Each person takes a turn, we assemble that meal together, each person making their own serving, and we all went home with 11 different meals ready for our freezer. It's a lot of fun, you learn new recipes, it's pretty cost effective, and best of all, you have 11 nights of no cooking ahead ;-)

Here is what was on our menu last night:

Taco Soup
Cheesy Beef Quiche
Country Breakfast Casserole
Cheesy Chicken Soup
Dutch Macaroni
Southern Vegetable Soup
Sour Cream Chicken Enchilidas
Chicken Green Bean Casserole
Cheesy Broccoli Soup
Turkey Chili
Sante Fe Chicken

YUMMINESS!

Each entree serves 4 people.

This process is just like what you would do at a "Dinners by Design" type of place (Love these places, but I've always thought it was kind of expensive for the amounts you get. For example, a half serving, which serves 3 people runs appx. $12 + tax).

I was curious how my entree broke down, and I did some calculations to see how this compares:

I bought my ground beef and several other ingredients in bulk at Costco (so there's still lots of leftover), and I also provided disposable pie pans.

The total, including tax, for 11 servings of Cheesy Beef Quiche was $94.10,

split among 11 entrees, and it comes out to:

$8.55 for a dish that serves at least 4.

Makes me think of that Food Network Star, Melissa D'Arabio who has the show where she shows you how you can feed four people for $10. Looks like I've got her beat - LOL!


Anyhow, just thought I'd share these fun little facts. Can't wait to eat all these delicious, super comforting meals!