Well-worn

Pumpkin Prep

Last night we headed off to a family friend's little farm. The boys had the field all to themselves to pick out just the right pumpkin. Oshyn was the boss of course and figured out who should get which one. We came home with 5 perfect picks and even some broccoli to plant (talk about a bargain & cross all fingers that they grow).

Mr. Muscles

O dressed for the part & always to impress

No, I'm not smuggling an extra pumpkin under my shirt.

Mr. Muscle's Dad. Look at the strength--palming a pumpkin--whew!

Tonight for Family Home Evening we scooped, scraped, cut, and carved those babies into beauties. Tea lights were MIA, so birthday candles shoved in playdough worked just dandy. As for the missing 2 pumpkins, Beau works so hard on helping everyone else that his pumpkin is still waiting for a turn and the "baby's" pumpkin turned into a pirate thanks to Aunt Judy and Uncle Roy.

We finished the night off with some pumpkin bars and are officially ready for Saturday.

Pumpkin Bars

Blend until fluffy:

4 eggs

1 2/3 cup sugar

1 cup oil

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin

Add to above:

2 cups flour (GF=rice flour)

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Bake @ 350 degrees for 18-25 minutes

Frost when cool

Frosting:

3 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

The Worm Womanizer

Cruz had a good 'ol time in the mud/dirt today. Digging and finding worms was a grand treasure. I had to laugh when he went to go show some teenie boppers his find. (think DEEP manly voice) "HEY! Hey guys look at this!!" After a few minutes he was back to his digging. He found some more worms and was off to impress the little women. "I wanna show those girls so they will say 'ewwwww'!" A ladies man already.

On top of the World

or fence for that matter. When he is out climbing or fence walking I hear comments from my neighbors..."Does your Mom know you're up there?", "Be CAREFUL!", "What are you doing?", etc. As long as he stays off the top of our shed, I'm not too worried about my personal Spiderman (and with that issue, it's the shed I'm worried about). Yesterday he demonstrated to us how good he really is...by scaling the fence from the outside back into our yard--straight vertical wood, no footholds. What's next O?

I REALLY like this boy

and our new fancy dancy camera that lets me get up so so close. Thank you so so much C & M. This is going to be fun. Here's to the learning process...

P.S. Thanks for waking up and staying in a good mood for the past 2 days Cruz. I love you buddy.

Mass Production

Yesterday was sugar cookie day. The Jones girls and Nobmann boys (plus me--I'm a girl) have been preparing for the last few days for the event. Dough was made on Wednesday, slept in the fridge (the dough, not the kids) and cut out, baked & frosted yesterday. Easier said than done, but the kids were champions and Stephanie and I picked up the tail end of about 1000 cookies. Small exaggeration there, but sometimes I wonder if I scare Stephanie away with some of my ideas of fun. Anywho, it was a good crazy fun time and we made enough that we walked the neighborhood and made many little rug rat's day.Then we piled in the car and delivered some more (maybe 1000 isn't an exaggeration).The best part, minus Oshyn crying right before bed because of eating soooo many cookies and feeling the sugar pain, was when the older two (O & Bella) talked about how good their hearts felt from sharing with so many people. Thanks again to Aunt Judy for instilling the sugar cookie within me!

P.S. To anyone who cares--I mastered the GF version of the delectable cookie--WAHOOIE!

SUGAR COOKIES (Aunt Judy style)

Cream together:

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

Add:

1 cup sour cream

3 egg yolks (beaten)

1 tsp vanilla

Add:

3 cups flour (GF= 1 cup rice flour, 1 cup tapioca starch, 1 cup corn starch, 1 1/2 tsp xantham gum)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Chill overnight

Roll out using flour (GF=potato starch) so it doesn't stick and then cut out with cookie cutters. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes @ 375 degrees.

Bernastics

Cruz loves "bernastics". The first 1/2 hour is obstacle course city and the last 15 minutes is FREE TIME!! Miss Megan is great with the wee ones. O got to go watch yesterday because of fall break and was thrilled when Megan asked if he wanted to have a jump too. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to jump, but she didn't ask me. Apparently many adults have gotten stuck in the mass amounts of foam. Does 30 make me an official adult? or would I just get stuck from having this massive addition attached to my midsection? Like I said before, she didn't ask me anyways. Go Bernastics Cruzmeister!

Coming out of the Woodwork

After seeing me "coloring" by the basketball court on Monday, a few of the neighbor girls asked if they could color too. I didn't have enough stuff for all of them and told them that on Tuesday afternoon they could come over and we could make Halloween crafts to suffice their desire. Tuesday came and at about 3pm or so, Oshyn went outside to look for them. One of the girl's brother was near and said, "Tell your Mom to give me 10 minutes, I think I know where 'so-and-so' is."10 minutes (or less) later the girls were here...and so were the ALL of the rest of the kids from our complex. Preschool to 6th grade. We broke out the paper, paint, scissors, glitter, etc. and they went NUTS. 3 hours worth of nuts. My favorite was the older boys. They got the most into it all by tracing their bodies and making scary something or others. By 6pm I told them they had 10 more minutes because I needed to make my family dinner. As they were leaving one of the boys said, "Are you going to do this again for Christmas?" I kind of giggled and thought...with WHAT?!? there isn't anything left!

After hosing down the sidewalk all that remains is the mass amounts of glitter in the grass to show for the insane afternoon of "crafts". What a fun way to finish off some paint. Thanks for the help Steph.

Here's a sampling of what was done. The pictures are all courtesy of Oshyn. He was amped on the fact that he got to use the camera, yet he told Stephanie that I was making him take pictures. Kind of funny. At dinner when we told our 'highs' and 'lows' his high was that he got to use the camera. His 'low' was that he only got to make one craft. Rough life my son, but thanks for all of your hard work.