We're off...Maybe.

We have been planning a disneyland trip for months! The boys made a paper chain and we have counted off the days left, we have looked up rides on the internet to get them excited, we have drawn pictures and decided which ride to go on first. So, can anyone tell me why we have all come down with the flu the day we are supposed to leave? What cruel fate is this?

Jay is still fine, so we will carry on and get as far as we can before anything hits him. I guess I am on car puke detail (which we hope won't be as bad as a surpise car puke because we plan to go armed with billy buckets, towels and handy changes of clothing.) I can't think of a better way to start our long awaited trip. Keep your fingers crossed that we are all on the upswing by monday when the real fun starts.

News...

We want to announce the eventual arrival of Wren baby #3 (yeah, we're terrified) around the first week of June 2009.

I would like it to be either a girl or a boy. One of the two.

J is rooting for a girl, but would not object to another member for his future football team.

Samuel is particularly interested in it being a boy so we can dress it in blue and name it either Bunny or Igor (don't know where he heard this name, we never saw the movie.)

Thomas (as usual) is oblivious to everything except throwing balls and jumping off of things, but if pressed for his opinion would likely say whatever Sam says.

We'll let you know...

P.S. What is with the spacing (or lack of) on blogger?

The things they know

I don't mean to brag, but I think my kids might be smarter than yours! Don't feel bad though, because they are definitely smarter than I am. We have a new trend around here that doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. After watching the movie Monster House several months ago (really creepy show, but the boys love it for some reason) which refers to a Uvula (the dangly thing in the back of your throat) Sam became fascinated with it. Thomas, of course, being the "Monkey Do" to Samuel's "Monkey See" also picked up on the fascination and at least several times a day Jay and I are asked to open our mouths wide so they can see our Uvula's (or as Thomas pronounces it "Wea"). Each time we are given an appreciative "Wow!" Then they open their mouths and show us theirs. It never gets old. They entertain each other with this in the store, at church, in the car and often it gets requested after prayers. I know for a fact that I didn't know the name of the dangly thing at the back of the throat until at least college. You?

In other completely non-related news, Happy 30th Birthday (yesterday) to my honey!

A Christmas Carol

It's been our tradition in the last few years to dust off our copy the Muppet Christmas Carol the day after Halloween. It's my favorite Christmas movie, and Samuel is finally into it this year. Thomas, of course, is into whatever Sam is into. We have also spent a lot of time straightening out the logistics of what happens on Christmas Eve ("Mom, Rudolph will stay and play with me, right?" and "Why can't Santa just come in the front door?" etc.) So, when we were driving home from the store today (we have our best conversations in the car) and Sam thoughtfully started out, "so mom, on Christmas Eve..." I expected to answer some question regarding the Santa visit. Instead, he finished with "...ghosts in chains will appear in my room?" Huh?

Then I remembered the ghosts in a Christmas Carol. So, Sam thinks that's part of the deal. You set cookies out for Santa, carrots out for the reindeer, kiss mom and dad goodnight and then go to your room and wait for the ghosts to appear.

Me: (thinking I was reassuring him) "No, Sam. That's just a movie. Only Santa comes to visit on Christmas Eve."

S: (in real dismay) What??!!

Some children get disillusioned when they find there is not really a Santa. My kid gets disillusioned when he realizes that there is no such thing as Jacob Marley or the ghosts past, present or future. He has watched Nightmare Before Christmas a few times to prepare for our upcoming Disneyland trip, so maybe his Halloween/Christmas lines are blurred. It's probably a good time to confuse him still further by getting into the Nativity story.

Seriously though, go watch The Muppet Christmas Carol if you haven't seen it. It's awesome. We stepped it up a notch this year and bought the soundtrack!

happenings

Every Sunday Samuel protests about going to church. He is no longer fooled that Primary is more fun than nursery where he requests to return to every week. He always end up having fun though and treasures whatever craft or picture he made for the whole week. I think the lesson this week though may have changed his mind about whether it is "boring" or not. He came home with a picture of a skeleton. Confused, we asked him why he drew that and he explained that it is a "skeleton who helps you feel good". We concluded that he had learned about the Holy Ghost and with all of his halloween memories fresh in his mind, he thought a skeleton was cooler than a "ghost." The Holy Skeleton? That helps people? I have no doubt that his teachers explained what the Holy Ghost is not your average ghost, but I know for a fact that he only hears one word out of three when we talk to him. I'm sure he stopped at ghost and gathered that it helps people, and took it from there. We'll have to work on that.



In Thomas news, he has been torturing me lately by getting out of bed multiple times a night and running around the house. We tried putting a baby gate on the stairs, but he had no trouble scaling it. We tried bagging him (basically like a sleep sack for a toddler. It keeps him from getting his leg over the side of the crib) but the wily kid shimmied right out of it in about 30 seconds. We put a child lock on the inside of his room, but after two nights he figured that out too. Now we are waiting for the crib tent to arrive (which we had wanted to avoid buying since he is relatively close to a big boy bed) and in the meantime, I have to be on the listen out for nocturnal toddler wanderings. Last night I didn't hear him at all, but got up around 4 a.m. to let the cat out and saw that his door was open and his bed was empty. I listened...nothing. All the doors to the outside have child locks on them, but that didn't comfort me much since he is a mini houdini apparently. I checked Sam's bed, I checked the downstairs. I started to get frantic and was about to turn on the lights and wake up Jay when I noticed a little white shape in the hallway outside our bedroom door that I had stepped over at least four times assuming it was a toy or part of the laundry pile nearby (give me a break, it was dark and I didn't have my contacts in). It was my son, peacefully curled up in the hallway. Who knows how long he cavorted through the house before deciding that was an awesome place to sleep. And great mother that I am, I rummaged around another five minutes in the dark until I found my camera. I knew my priorities. Here you go.

I am totally using this as more evidence that I need lasik surgery. Maybe next year. Maybe the crib tent will arrive tomorrow.

Happy Halloween

Batman and the Hulk team up!

Thomas has evidence of Halloween all over his face

Pumpkin Picking at the Farm

Every year we go to this farm to take a hayride and pick out a pumpkin!

Sam's enormous misshapen pumpkin!

We got lazy this year and had the boys paint their pumpkins instead of carve them.

Then we let them tell us what to carve on ours.

Soup Weather

I have another recipe challenge for you all in honor of the cold weather (here anyway, sorry La Yen!) this one is so easy and quick that you will have time to make homemade bread as well. I used to use this recipe to cater lunches for some of J's marketing clients and it is easy to adjust for lots of people or just a few.

I am sure you have had potato soup before, but this one trumps all others ever created. This is the ultimate cold weather soup!

Suzi's Baked Potato Soup

4 Lg. Potatoes
2/3 c butter
2/3 c. flour
1 can chicken broth
5 c Milk (or 3 c. milk and 2 cups of water)
1 onion minced
crumbled bacon (to taste, but I use about 3/4 cup)
2 c. Cheddar
1 c. Sour Cream
Salt, pepper, parsley, (to taste)

Bake potatoes (baking them, particularly in the oven gives the best flavor. Boiling them isn't as good!) and scoop out flesh in big chunks (you can cook potatoes ahead of time, scoop and freeze. It makes the meal even quicker next time around.)
Melt butter in pot. Add onions and sautee until they are clear. Add flour and stir appx. 2 minutes. Whisk in milk/water/chicken broth and stir until smooth. Cook on med. low until thickened (don't boil or milk will scorch). Once the base is thick, add potatoes and bacon. Right before serving, add cheese and sour cream and cook till melted. Salt, pepper and parsley to taste. If the soup is too thick for you, add milk to thin it. This soup is especially awesome for dipping bread!

You will not be sorry, but you may gain a few pounds (worth it though!)

There's a storm a-comin'

The weather channel has predicted an end to this completely gorgeous October and tells me that we can expect snow and rain within the next week. We hustled to get the yard winterized (our first clueless year of being homeowners with trees, we left all the vegetation and fallen leaves to do what it wanted until spring.) Yucky mush is what we ended up carting out in the spring.

The boys, who had previously refused to set foot outside lately because the back yard (with its array of trampolines, balls, trucks, slides and dirt) was "boring and hot/cold," discovered that leaves are fun!
When it actually did rain on Sunday, Sam wanted to go out. Wet leaves aren't nearly as much fun as dry ones!

Thomas also wanted to put on a raincoat and boots, but did not want pants (until he had his boots on, and then I said no - I knew he wouldn't last long). It took about one step out the door and a few raindrops on his face for him to change his mind (and then gave us accusing looks like we tricked him).