This Ain't No Jacket Weather

Today is a crisp 32 degrees with 87% humidity at around 4pm when we went outside. Not as cold as it has been but its still cold. Yesterday was too cold to play and my boys were climbing the walls to get out. So here we are in all our layers and glory in the cold playing until we are as dirty as ever and a frozen as the mud puddles we jump in.
I don't know why its so hard to catch collin smiling but he has been such a happy kid lately that these pictures really don't show it. I guess his cute smile is covered up by his neck warmer I made and muddled by his babbling moving mouth. Oh so cute. This picture is before he sat, stomped, and fell in the mud puddles.

Here is Adon sporting his new cold winter gear, most of it from Grandpa E. I asked him if he wanted his picture taken and he said, yes. I said, "okay, strike a pose" not thinking he knew what that ment and this is what he did. So funny. P.S. to all those who plan on visiting us in the upcoming months, bring warm clothes~! This is your official warning. Have a nice day :P

Fun with Helicopters

For fun, since its been rainy and the boys have been really couped up, we went to the hanger that holds all the helicopters that Aaron flies. This one is is a kit helicopter that the owner of the school built from a kit. Aaron wants one just like it to up his hours. Its not bad when you are staning right by it, but its a daunting task to build a safe helicopter.
Here is Adon flying the little red R22. I can't remember what Aaron calls it either Lima Gulf or Kilo Papa. Something to do with the letters on the tail.

Both our boys love helicopters, airplanes, trains, boats, trucks, you name it they love it. It is so cool to be outside and they both stop in their tracks because they can hear a train whistle in the distance or see/hear a helicopter/plane in the air above them. How wonderful it is to watch them get so excited about the little things that I don't really think about.

Sadie has emerged

Mom threw us a wonderful dinner for our Halloween celebration. She even pulled out all the stops and dressed up as the infamous "Sadie" And here she is. Orange hair and all. She doesnt talk the whole time and when she does its "happy birthday sadie" or "la La la La la" in a child like voice wich is kind of creepy sinc my mom loves to talk. Adon didn't know how to behave around her and he was pretty sober, wondering what was going on!
Sadie takes each of us by the hand and seats us at the table. Then she places plastic wrap around us an clothes pinns it around our neck. Then she takes handfulls of the wonderful and amazing food that has been prepared and slops it on the plastic table cloth on the table. She then continues to feed us and bring us drinks. We either have to wait for her to feed us or eat off of the table cloth without our hands. Its a lot of fun. So much good food! I know you guys are jealous.

Collin says "I could eat like this every day! Oh wait! I do!!! He he he" He's a cute little pirate covered with red food coloring.

Adon at a lot of food, but it was probably because Sadie kept stuffing it in his mouth. Oh, well you gotta get them to eat some how.

The three of us were/are pirates for Halloween. I made the costumes but you can't see them very well. More pictures to come. Happy Halloween!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Aaron requested dinner in a pumpkin this evening and since he rarely requests specifics on dinner I try to accomodate. Here is how you make it. Get a small to medium sized pumpkin. This is a little large but its what we had. Cut a lid and clean it out.
You don't need the seeds or the goop for the recipe so you can chuck them or toast the seeds wich are yummy too. I have a good recipe for those as well but will not include that in this post. Only upon request.

Brown 1 1/2-2 pounds of ground beef in a skillet and drain the fat. I only used 1 pound. Add a chopped onion and saute it until the onion becomes tender (or to your liking). Then add 2 Tablespoons soy sauce, 2 Table spoons brown sugar, 1 small can sliced mushrooms, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, and 1 can of water chestnuts drained. Warm it all up and simmer. You can add or subtract any part of the recipe to your liking (I do). I didn't put in the brown sugar, but I added a little garlic. (you know me) I didn't think it needed any added salt but maybe some pepper. You could also put in shredded carrots, cellery, or even diced spinach or brocoli to up the nutrients. You could also use sausage, which I think would be yummy. This serves six but you could always add more rice to make it serve more.

Dinner in a Pumpkin Cont..

Place the mixture inside the pumpkin.

Stick the lid of the pumpkin on and place on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Voala! (thats French) Here you have the finished product.

Depending on the size of the pumpkin you may want to cook it longer so that the flesh is soft to spoon out and eat as well.

Dinner in a Pumpkin was a big hit! Every one liked it.

Collin even at a little of it. He likes to use his fingers.

Pumpkin Carving!

I know its a little early, but I wouldn't trade an opportunity like this for the world. Aaron gets to help! Here is Adon with his pumpkin. He wanted it carved like his little whistle. He was even brave enough to put his hand inside and dig out the seeds and goop.
Collin helped Daddy separate the seeds from the goop so we could toast them. Mmmm Yummy!

I really love carving pumpkins.


Jack-0-lanterns!

Collin went to bed before we took this picture and Adon looks like he is ready as well. What a fun evening of family time! Despite this picture, Adon really loved carving pumpkins.

Mean Skills

This picture alone makes it look like Aaron can dunk it. And he can....on this hoop.
So can Adon.

And so can Collin. I have such talented boys!

Pumpkin Walk at Elks Park

Best Buddies
Jedi in training

Adon next to a garden made of pumpkins and the jolly green giant.

Collin was being camera shy so here is one of the best ones I got.

The pumpkin walk has various themes each year but the little scenes are all made of pumpkins. The M&Ms are made of pumpkins. LOL We are big fans of peanut M&Ms. I am actually eating some right now. Whahhahaha

Pictures from the Pumpkin Walk

All over the pumpkin walk are these boards painted like characters with the faces cut out. I love taking these pictures and my kids get a kick out of them too. Here is Adon as Max.
Collin as Yoda (just like when Adon did it two years ago)

Me as sleeping beauty(i'm snoring) and Aaron being so handsome and charming wanting to lean over and give the snoring princess a kiss. (I would want to stop my snoring too)

Aaron as Harry Potter. The glasses were part of the board. LOL

I love this picture. So I look a little intense but I was trying to get Collin to look at the camera. I love love love it when we can go and do things together as a family. Aaron is a wonderful provider but sometime he misses out on these kind of things. So here's to you Honey!

Arts and Crafts

I consider myself to be more crafty than some (Marcy is way ahead of me though) and I always need a project or two or three going at the same time. Its worse when I dont' have a good book to read. Any suggestions. Any way for most of our Christmas gifts for our family and friends; I am putting my oh so lovely crafting skills to the test. At the same time Adon wanted to help me. Since these are for other people I decided to let him paint our little nativity set that I got. He was thrilled and made a wonderful mess as he decorated all ten figures. They aren't done so there is no finished picutre yet. (I need to go and get sand paper)
So much for being concerned about him getting it all over his clothes. What is the fun in staying clean when you are three? He had fun!

Can You Feel the Thrill?

Here is a picture of Aaron and I getting ready for our hot date. He doesn't know where we are going but he is going to like it. (Insert evil laugh here)
YES!! WE WENT TO THRILLER!!! Wahooooo! I know you are jealous!

The zombies were better last year, maybe because there were more of them? But they are still pretty gross. Moriann and my mom joined us and we had a ball. Or at least I did. P.S. I know I look like I have a mask on but I just got back from AZ and aparently I caught some sun and forgot to adjust my foundation. Don't hate me because I got to spend a week in the sun :P

Fun at Arizona Zoo

We took the kids to the zoo and they loved it. It was a short trip but we got to see most of the animals.

More Mexico Pics

Gotta love this....and my camera!
Aaron wasn't able to go with us and I missed him soooooo very much. It was so great to get back home to him.

Here is Collin riding top with Uncle Tracy. I'm not sure why this picture is little.

I'm the extrememly little person in red in the middle. This is where we went for lunch the day we left Mexico. It was good. The resturaunt is on stilts over the water. We ate outside and Collin threw his sippy cup over the edge of the deck.

Susan's brother, Greg, took us out on his boat. I'm in the back on the left. Alexa and Zack went with us. It was fun, minus the motor not starting up. But we made it back safe.