jump up and down

happy halloween

Here are our Jack-o-Lantern creations from last night - mine, Ned's, and Peter's.  I scooped out the guts and Ryan contributed by helping the kids draw and cut.  This is actually the first time I have carved a pumpkin in a few years and I think the ones that we bought from our pumpkin patch adventure must be a new variety.  They were so easy to scoop and clean out!  We did these three pumpkins in less than an hour and we would have been faster, but Ned's was from the grocery store and not so fun to clean out. 

And we have a winner, generated by Random.org since you all guessed correctly - yes they are little Jedis!  I guess that wasn't much of a guessing game, but it was still a giveaway.  And our winner?  it's MISSY. And what has she won?  One of those little apple totes - I still have a few to finish (and I'm going to try really hard to sit down at the sewing machine sometime today - it's been a while) and the next one I finish will be hers.  Missy - send me your address please.

Speaking of not sitting down to the sewing machine in a while - I want to thank those of you who are still reading, despite the lack of crafty in this so called crafty blog.  I've been productive and busy lately, just in a different way.  My days are full of being Peter's taxi to two pre-schools and therapy, entertaining, feeding, and loving two very energetic boys, getting a good grade in my Anatomy class, joining a dinner co-op (which has actually saved me time and $$$ - more on that next week), getting way behind on my blog reading, working for Sandi (which I am grateful for - I love Etsy as evidenced by the fact that my shop is still open, but the income was always so variable), celebrating a birthday (happy 34th Ryan!  There was supposed to be a post about that, but it didn't happen.) and getting vein therapy (the endovenous ablation type).  I had my second treatment yesterday and this one seems to hurt less than the last one, although I was more nervous for it - maybe because I knew what I was getting myself into or maybe beacause I had spent less time thinking about it and mentally preparing myself for it than I did for the first one.  Either way, I still have two more and I'll have to get myself a little more calm for the other ones or the doctor might force me to take the drugs (they'll give you Xanax to help you relax, but I'm sort of the au natural girl - have I ever told you that I gave birth to my boys in the water, without drugs of any kind?  yeah - drugs are just not my thing).  Note to self - more mental preparation next time! 

And to leave you, I'll give you a link to the project that I wanted to do this Halloween, but didn't get around to doing.  Quixotic Pixels put together these free witch and vampire embroidery downloads - aren't they fabulous?  A wall hanging or pillow would have been perfect - maybe next year. 

Happy Halloween everyone!!

halloween guessing game

We had a fun Halloween party for the chicos, planned by my friend Mandy (thanks Mandy!!), on Saturday afternoon, complete with donut eating, a witch hunt, pin the nose on the pumpkin, and a pinata.  They had tons of fun being with their friends, playing games, and eating candy.  Pin the nose on the pumpkin was my contribution to the game portion of the afternoon.  I just took the largest pumpking from our pumpkin patch adventure last week, cut some eyes, a mouth, and several noses out of black cardstock and used masking tape to attach them.  To distinguish which nose belonged to which kid, I used a white crayon to write their initials on the nose.  I don't think we ended up with a clear winner here - what do you think?

And then after the party, I tried to get the boys to pose in their costumes outside and of course they weren't that into picture taking after such a fun party.  So, I asked Peter to go and give Ned a hug to at least get them in the same frame and this is what we ended up with. 

And since it's not yet Halloween and not completely clear what they are (yes, they are both wearing the same exact costume, made to fit by Grandma), I'm going to be a bit of a tease and make a guessing game here.  Everyone make a guess and then all of the correct guesses will go into a hat (and sorry, all guesses from the locals who already know what they  are will not be counted) to be chosen for a prize (I'm not sure what it will be yet, but it will be good!).   Also, once you make your guess, you can't change it, so I guess those that wait to guess will have the advantage of seeing the other comments.  I don't think this will be too difficult, but we'll see.  I'll give you one hint - they are both missing their one prop and it's a prop that I had to spray paint.  Oh, and guessing will go until I post next - not sure when that will be, so there's another element of surprise!

pump-ka

Hello friends!  Here I am again - apparently I got lost last week helping Sandi get prepared for market (did I mention that I'm working for her now?  I am - have a question about the patterns?  You can direct it to me because that's where it will end up anyway.) and studying for my exam that I had tonight.  I am now officially in decompressing mode and have some sewing therapy planned for tonight.

 

We did fit in a family outing to the local pumpkin (or pump-ka as Ned says) patch on Saturday afternoon.  Ned had been pointing out pumpkins all week and so we thought he would love a trip to a field of pumpkins, but when we got there, he wouldn't get out of Ryan's arms (or stop drawing - he always has a pen and pad of paper).  I don't blame him - the weeds that surpassed him in height were a little foreboding.  We planned on taking home three pumpkins, but ended up with five and now we have a grand total of seven pumpkins with the two I bought at the store a week ago.  I think we're set!  And I have another vein therapy planned for the day before Halloween, so Ryan will stay home that day and we'll have plenty of time for a family carving session.

 

We have a little kids Halloween party on Saturday too and I'm excited to reveal the boys costumes.  I have to thank my Mom for making them, entirely from her stash, in one weekend.  That really took a load off of my mind this year!  Thanks Mom!!

tagged

Well, snow it did! And right on the flowers and green grass and everything (I took this shot outside the bagel shop yesterday)!  The snow also brought quite the chill, but never fear - autumn is supposed to be back by the weekend and I can't wait.  It was so lovely for the week or so that we had enjoyed it. 

And one of my friend's tagged me a little while ago.  I am usually not so great at following through on being tagged - for those who have tagged me, please don't be offended.  Life is crazy and sometimes things slip through the cracks.  Anyway, I haven't done one of these in a while and I always find them interesting when I read them from others, so here it goes.  Feel free to play along if you want and let me know - I'd love to read yours.

5 THINGS I LOVE:

1. Getting up early (call me weird, but I love feeling like I got a lot done early in the day - it certainly doesn't happen as often as I would want it too, but it is nice when it does.)
2. My Boys - all three of them
3. Chocolate
4. Fabric
5. Having my kids sit on my lap and just stay there for a while.

5 THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST:
1. Study for tomorrow's Anatomy quiz.
2. Prepare for Peter's IEP meeting (coming up on Thursday).
3. Laundry.
4. Blog (check)
5. Give my kids some hugs!

5 FAVORITE SNACKS:
1. Chocolate
2. Toast
3. String Cheese
4. Ice Cream
5. Apples and Carrots

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME:

1. I have two brothers and I am in the middle.
2. I'm not really a pet person - especially while I have young children, I don't want anything else that I have to take care of.
3. I like to read novels, but I don't often do it because I fall asleep after a few pages or I choose to sew instead.  I do read lots of short things - magazine articles, newspaper (or more likely internet news), etc.
4. My best friend from high school and I (who I just reconnected with on Facebook - hooray!) had a motto - "Nerds Rule!" that gives you a good idea of what I was like back then.
5.  I play the piano and organ.

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. Portland, Oregon
2. Salt Lake City, Utah
3. Argentina
4. Davis, California
5. Current Locale (it's in Idaho, but that's all I'll say)

5 JOBS I HAVE HAD:

1. Office Help for Career Center at Community College
2. Lab Technician
3. House Cleaner
4. Piano Teacher
5. Etsy Seller

apples to apples

I think I'm trying to embrace autumn through apples - apples in my crafting, apples for the kids every day at lunch, and drooling over Katie's apples.  And it is definitely time to embrace the autumn!  It's nice and chilly today with some great sunshine and it's supposed to snow this weekend - wait, that's winter.  Ok, well I'm hoping the snow is a brief visitor and fall returns soon. 

Yesterday, I finally covered some tin cans that I've been saving for a while with plans to use them as a pencil and gadget holders.  I got out the paper and decided they needed a little something else - how about an apple?  So I whipped out the Wonder Under (or you could use Heat and Bond) and scraps, traced out my apples, got out the iron, and put them right on the paper.  And then I just stitched right around the edge - I love the sound of sewing on paper!

And remember the apples in this post?  They've found a home on the outside of some tote bags.  I've cut out six of these (why do I always think that working in large multiples is such a great idea?), and have two finished.  The others will come, these are pretty quick to whip up, which was the point when I put these together.  I wanted something that would be faster for me to sew so I can have more variation in the price range in my shop, which is where they will be soon.

 

I think I need to make my favorite apple cake (interesting - that post is from a year and a day ago - it must be the time of year for apple cake) this weekend - yes, lots of baking this weekend to warm up the house! 

what's for dinner: tortilla-black bean casserole

Tortilla-Black Bean Casserole is one of our all-time favorite dinner dishes and it's one of those things that almost better as a leftover.  I know what I'm having for lunch today!  I found the recipe in our trusty Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book when we had a garden in the community gardens of our student housing apartments and had an abundance of peppers - they were one of the only things that the squirrels didn't like.

And here is a picture of what I consider to be the best part of this meal, the filling.  Isn't it lovely to look at?

Tortilla-Black Bean Casserole

2 cups chopped onion (2 large)
1 1/2 cups chopped green sweet pepper (2 medium)
1 14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup picante sauce or mild salsa
2 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 15 oz cans black beans or red kidney beans (I usually use one of each)
12 6-inch corn tortillas
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I have also used Cheddar and Colby Jack)

1.  In a large skillet combine onion, sweet pepper, undrained tomatoes, picante sauce, cumin, and garlic.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  Stir in beans.

2. Spread one-third of the bean mixture over the bottom of a 3-quart rectangular baking dish (I usually use a glass 9x12 dish).  Top with six of the tortillas, overlapping as necessary, and 1 cup of the cheese.  Add another one-third of the bean mixture; top with remaining tortillas and remaining bean mixture.

3.  Bake, covered, in a 350 oven for 30 to 35 minutes or till heated through.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Let stand 20 minutes. 

4.  Serve with sour cream and enjoy!  You can also top it with lettuce, tomatoes, and/or olives. 

Peter is usually a big fan of this dish.  Lately it's difficult to get him to stop playing for ten minutes to eat at night, so I ended up feeding it to him while he played around the table and he ate it willingly. We try to make allowances for him, especially in the evening when he is getting tired and his sensory disorder can really interfere with things like concentrating on eating.  And I thought Ned would at least eat the beans because he will often ask for me to open a can of kidney beans and he will eat them plain!  Ned wouldn't touch it though - I think he ended up having a piece of bread before bed.  We'll keep trying though - maybe next time I make it he'll decide it's OK (or the next time or the time after that or maybe in a few years). 

weekend in review

We had a great weekend with my Mom here - on Saturday, we had a marathon jam and beet canning fest.  I didn't get a shot of the jam since you saw some of that a little bit ago, but I did get a shot of those beets - I just love their vibrant color!

It was also general conference weekend - the kids didn't let us watch much, but we've gotten into the habit of downloading it and watching it later.  Someday my kids will be able to let us enjoy conference again, right?  Maybe they will even enjoy it with us - a girl can dream can't she? 

Part of general conference is a women's meeting that occurred the previous weekend and when I heard this talk by our beloved President Ucthdorf, I knew I wanted to share it with you.  I had meant to do it early last week, but the text for the talk wasn't available until later this week.  It reminded me so much of my creative and generous blogging friends.  Thank you so much for inspiring me!

i'm still here

Wow - the week just slipped away from me.  We've been enjoying a fabulous Indian Summer this week (well, we have been enjoying it for all of September actually), but that's supposed to change this weekend.  It's OK - I'm ready for it now. 

We've also been re-living the first week of pre-school, as both of Peter's pre-schools are in session, he's enrolled, and luckily, transitioning very well.  One school meets in the morning twice a week and the other meets in the afternoon three times a week, so the schedule is a bit convoluted.  On Tuesdays, he has school in both the morning and afternoon, so I was a little worried that he wouldn't want to go in the afternoon.  When he got home from his morning school, I mentioned to him that there would be Sally's school too - we are calling the schools by the teacher's name and he said, "I love it there!"  Oh, I was ecstatic!  This is all going to work out just fine. 

Then on Wednesday, we had our first real conversation that included more than two exchanges.  I definitely shed a tear or two for that!  It went something like this...we were in the car on the way to school and I asked Peter what he was going to do when he got there.  This is a question that he normally wouldn't be able to answer, but he said, "ummm....cleaning," which I knew right away was playing with the toy mops and brooms in the play kitchen area at school.  Then I said, "Remember, you need to wash your hands before you start playing."  And he said back, "I look for my tag?" (they've been wearing nametags this first week), and I said, "Yes, we'll sign you in, you can put on your tag, then wash your hands and then go play," to which he said, "OK!"  And then when we got to school, he carried out the sequence of events perfectly!!  This is monumental - being able to communicate all these actions with speech and then carry them out with perfection!  He can certainly do all of those things, but normally it would take a few days of walking him through the steps before he could carry it out like that.  Hooray for Peter!!  He's been so chatty lately and it seems that he has finally stopped using jargon too (if he didn't know a word, he would just make it up - maybe he can't talk but he certainly is creative!). 

And yesterday, I went in for a minor procedure - some vein therapy.  (BTW- has anyone else had this done?  I'd love to hear what you think.)  My pregnancies, combined with my genetics, have literally killed my leg veins.  In my left leg, I don't have any properly functioning veins except for the main one that runs up the middle of your muscles.  After having every other thing checked out a few months ago to try and figure out why I felt so tired all the time, I finally said to the doctor, "Could it be my legs?" to which she replied, "Yeah, I'd go get those checked out if I were you."  Thanks a lot doctor - could you have mentioned that before you ran all those tests that all showed nothing?  So, I went and got everything checked out in July, but have been putting off treatment because of the half-marathon and because of cost.  The radiation tech that helped with the procedure yesterday said that she had it done and after the pain subsided, she felt like she had a helium balloon attached to her leg.  I could sure go for that - there are times (usually a couple of times a day) when I just have to put my feet up.  Maybe I can get back to feeling like I'm in my 30s instead of my 80s!  Don't ask me how I ran on these legs - the doctor was pretty impressed when I told him.  And it almost makes me want to run another one next year, after all my treatments (yes, my legs are so bad that I'm going to need 4 or 5 treatments) are done just to see how much faster I could go!

Well, have a great weekend everyone - my Mom is coming up to visit for the weekend and we're excited to have some Grandma time!!

p.s. the photos from our summer vacation - it seemed appropriate to celebrate summer since we've had such a great one!