Regan's 10th Birthday

Regan's Birthday was yesterday. Once again he chose to have a mom and dad party instead of a friend party. I made him the dinner of his choice, steak and Potato Boats. And the cake of his choice, Molten Chocolate Cake (excellent choice, plus it was way easier than decorating a cake).

Not sure what the pose in the top picture is all about. I think he was trying to look as if he were blowing out the candles.

Next he opened presents. He got an Erector set from my parents and a lava lamp from us. He told me a few weeks ago that those were the two things he wanted. Luckily, my mom had already gotten him the Erector set so I only had to get the lava lamp, which was cheap. Nice. And he's still got something coming from Jason's parents.

Then, it was off to the movies. Kacy came over to watch the other boys, so it was just the 3 of us. We went to see the new Christmas Carol. We wanted to see the 3D version, but apparently the 3D projector was not working and they didn't have time to fix it (probably because of all those crazy Twilight fans lined up outside), so we saw the regular version. We had a good time anyway... well, except for the part that Regan got a bloody nose, gagged on the blood, and then threw up a puddle of blood on the floor. I know. Disgusting. Luckily there were only 2 other people in the theater.

It's hard to believe he's been with us for ten years. He's been such a blessing in our lives and we're very grateful to have him in our home. Happy Birthday Regan, we love you!

Halloween 09

Weston was NOT a happy frog!

Decorating Halloween cookies.

Family Pictures 2009

We get together every year with our friends, the Jorgensons, and take each other's family pictures. Luckily, the weather was beautiful and we were able to do outdoor shots this time. And luckily, this time, no one had pink eye and no one was screaming. All in all, not too bad.

Halloween Cuisine

I've been noticing a lot of cute Halloween recipes online that I wanted to try, so I decided to make a dinner of it.

Here's our mummy dogs. I used the refrigerated bread sticks, each one cut into thirds lengthwise, and wrapped them around cheddar wurst (much better than a plain hot dog). After they were cooked I dabbed on the mustard eyes.

These are just carrots with sliced almond fingernails standing up in veggie dip.

I cored and quartered the apples, cut out a wedge and used slivered almonds for teeth.

Peas with red pepper tongues and slivered almond teeth.

This was the favorite. I froze apple cider in latex gloves (food safe) then removed the gloves and put the frozen hands in white grape juice.

It took me more time than I was planning on-like it always does-and I didn't get time to make one of the 500 spooky desserts I've looked at this week. So when Regan asked why there was no dessert...well, let's just say he was lucky he was sitting where I couldn't reach him.

Cook of the Week

http://cmrecipebox.blogspot.com/2009/10/cook-of-week.html

Chickens!

Ben couldn't be more excited, but I think the chickens are having second thoughts. They relocated to our house last week when their owners decided they had too many chickens. Three hens. They came with the coop and everything, we just couldn't refuse. I think Spencer has had second thoughts as well. It's caused him much anxiety to run after Ben and the chickens and scream about how Ben is killing or crippling them. Poor Spence. I wonder if it will cause him the same amount of anxiety to eat the chickens as it does for him to watch Ben abuse them.
We're not planning on eating them...yet. So far they've laid 2 eggs. I know, not much, but there was much excitement when they came.

I found Ben sitting in front of the chicken coop today. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me, "I'm singing we will we will rock you to the chickens".
I don't know, but it would be my guess that if the chickens had their choice, they would choose the Queen serenade over being squeezed half to death. Maybe they can learn to be friends after all.

The hen in these pictures is the most patient one. The only one that allows Ben, or anyone else, near her.

Fishing

Several years ago Jason and I found a little known reservoir up the canyon. Last Saturday we decided to take the boys there fishing. The weather was so beautiful and so was the scenery.


As you can see, Ben was most excited to get his hands on the worms we brought for bait. He thought of them more as pets than bait.



Spencer and Ben were quite the little fishermen...or at least they would have been, had they caught any fish.


Regan had stripped down to his underwear and left all his clothes back at the van. He told us he was going to go "skinny diving". That may have been a good plan until a few other people showed up to fish. He spent the rest of the time trying to stay hidden behind me. Lesson learned: if you're going to go "skinny diving", don't leave your clothes in the vehicle on the other side of the lake.

Here's a little video of Jason teaching the kids to catch fish by hand in the creek. The kids could have done this all day long. Who'd of thought you could catch a fish easier by hand than on a pole?