Halloween Hand for dinner

So, I saw this on another blog and had to make it or dinner! The comments I received during dinner let me know that it turned out pretty awesome! There's nothing like a little baked hand right before Halloween to make you appreciate that Thanksgiving turkey!

Lib's Ward Party

These are from Lib's Halloween Party in her ward.

Josh is a werewolf similar to Cam, but his hood is soooo itchy!

Cam is a werewolf and Grace is the cat from Alice in Wonderland. ( My mind is blank right now!)

Sam went as his alter ego - a little devil!

knives and matches!

We carved our jack-o-lanterns for FHE tonight. I was trying to pinpoint exactly why the boys like this tradition year after year. But then, I started to wonder what's NOT to like about this tradition year after year (if you're a little boy, that is!) We started by designing our pumpkins on dad's iPhone - how's that for tradition? Then, it's time to fish out the gooey yuck. Next, playing with knives and finally, lighting fires! What could be more fun?!?

Jared gave Sam a pile of guts to keep him busy in his booster while we carved. Sam looked at them, said, "ewwww", and threw them all over the floor. Yeah, have fun with that, Dad!

Cam mentioned that he thought it would be fun to swim in a big pool full of pumpkin guts - disgusting, I know!

Josh was super intense with his drawing. He actually found the app that let's you design your pumpkin on dad's iPhone. He's had his design idea set for a couple of weeks now.

Jake useed my giant pumpkin I found at Smith's. This thing was huge - at lest 30 pounds! Oh, well. Now he has jagged teeth and ears.

Looking for jars

So I think I finally found a Halloween craft for the 5th grade party that won't humiliate Jake!

Thing is, there's 40 kids in his class. I have some jars, but I really don't want to donate 40! I'm heading to DI this morning to look for some, but does anyone want to donate 2 or 3 to my cause?

Welcome to our Preschool!

Today we learned more about Fall. We had fun making karo syrup leaves, putting together our own leaf memory games, and practiced writing and sounding out the letter F.

Oh, and we watched Sam streak through the preschool room a few times.

Sorry if your child received more education than you paid for today!

Grandma's Gangstas

Hey Grandma,
Waz up? Thanks for the clothes money. We spent it on some really nice jackets and hats to keep us warm this winter. Mom let us have our choice (almost) of what we wanted to buy and we tried to choose things that you would have chosen. Jake found a nice zippered jacket in a suh-weet animal print. The best part is that the zipper goes all the way up! Cam's jacket has some cool glow-in-the-dark spiders and spider webs and he even had enough leftover to get that rockin' hat. Josh just lucked out and got a hat because he wanted it, but we had to sell Sam's clothes to buy it. Sorry Sam! Oh yeah, and Dad, he's just trying to be as cool as we are - maybe you should send him some money next time!

Love,
Jake & Cam

Scarecrow Festival

We went to the Scarecrow Festival over UEA Break - as one of my friends put it, we might as well invest in the boys' reform school the puts the festival on in hopes of getting a scholarship later when we need it!

Cam and Josh REALLY enjoyed their cotton candy. They were so cute counting out their coins for the $2 a bag treat, that the sales guy gave them each a bag for the same price!

The boys all loved climbing in this giant spider web thingy. We'd really like to build one in the backyard - wouldn't the neighbors love us then? Josh is near the bottom in the green & red, Cam's in teh middle in the red shirt, and jake is somewhere on that next to top layer.

Their favorite part was the rockets. For a dollar, they got to build their own rockets with fins, glitter, whatever. Then they got to blast them off with the air blaster thingymajig in teh picture below that Cam is playing with.

Even though there were a bunch of jumpies and carnival games, we spent most of our time here launching rockets.

Sam and I rode the little train while the big boys launched, but the shutter on the camera is having problems and we didn't get a picture. Sorry, Grandma!

Fortunes

So, yesterday, I stopped by Panda Express for a little taste of orange chicken. My fortune cookie said,

"People are saying good things about you."

I felt really good about this until later last night when I hopped on Facebook and realized my sister had hacked into my account and changed my profile to this:

Pretty, huh?

Thriller Night

Act I

A few years ago, Jared and I saw Thriller. We liked it so much, we decided to go again and take the two big boys this time. Of course, Jared insisted we have dinner at The Pie on the way. It's his favorite restaurant and he needed to be rewarded for convincing me he really wanted to go to the show even if there wasn't going to be a big, orange ball or an electronic scoreboard!
I really love going to plays, dance recitals, musicals, etc and I wanted to introduce the boys to a little bit of 'culture' that wasn't the fuzzy-growing-on-something type. I think they really liked the show. That is, after we got past the zombie out front with the really freaky eyes! Poor Cam was a little scared as we took our seats, but he calmed down as we laughed at the Chucky dolls, Frankenstein, and Jason and his hockey mask. I loved hearing their favorite parts all the way back to Manda's place to pick up the little boys. And, just to clear things up, neither of them were really scared of the freaky-eyed zombie - my mistake!

Act II (a.k.a. Just Gimme My Kids Back, Manda!)

My sister, Manda, jumped at the chance to take the two little boys while we went to the show (especially after we fed her pizza, too). I thought the show was only two hours, which would have us ending at 9:30 and on our way to pick up the little boys. We didn't really get out until 10:10. I called Manda and she seemed calm, too calm. She said the little boys were asleep in her bed. I had no idea she was so ticked off at us for being late!
We got to her building and the elevator was mysteriously not working. So, Jake, Cam and I headed up the stairs after StrangerDanger #1 used his keycard to let us into the eerie stairwell. We made it to the 3rd floor and the same guy swiped his card again to let us into the main building. The following events may be a little biased and presented under the influence of the Thriller production:
*I knocked on Manda's door & got no answer. I thought to myself, "she's trying to steal my babies to sell them on the Black Market to pay off her new car!"
*We went down the other stairwell which only led to the parking garage so we went back to the 3rd floor. Smart Jake had propped the door open so we could get back in.
*Went down our original stairwell, door on main floor was locked. 3rd floor door was locked, too. Locked in stairwell. Can hear Manda laughing through the vents. "Mwah ha ha ha!"
*Look out in to parking garage to find someone to let us in building. Avoid serial killer guy. See Manda. She ducks under cover, but we find her. Make it outside when Manda reluctantly show us how to open garage door to the outside world.
* Manda acts like she 'forgot' her key card to get in the building. Evil glimmer in her eye. Lady finally pulls up and lets us use her key card to get inside.
*Conveniently can't find any helpline phone numbers so Manda starts to call police. I think she was actually calling her accomplice that had a chainsaw.
*Find StrangerDanger #2 in original Stairwell again. Cameron approaches him, "Sir, could ye spare a cardswipe on the 3rd floor for a gentleman and his two handmaids?" or something like that anyways. SD #2 lets us onto the 3rd floor.
*Manda lets us into her apartment where Sam and Josh are still sleeping. I swear I heard her grumble, "Foiled again" under her breath.
* Cam and I grab what belongs to us and quickly leave. Manda warns us to never visit Downtown again - she says it's not safe there! "Mwah hahahah!"

*Um, yeah, thanks for babysitting Aunt Manda. You're a real peach!

we heart macaroni

Jake keeps singing the same song over and over and over and over and over (get my point?)

Anyhow, it's making me a little crazy!

"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY"

I exclaimed in my best Tommy Boy voice! (is it OK for Mormons to use that expression?)

"YEAH, FOR THE LOVE OF MACARONI!"
I hear Josh yell right behind me.

He kills me!

My 10 Things that Made Me Smile Today

1. Sam's yogurt face this morning as he insisted on feeding himself breakfast!

2. The hour I had to Mine and Sam's selves this morning when Jared took the other boys to help clean the church.

3. My new skull socks I found at Target today.

4. Jake saying, "OK Mom" to one of the things I asked him to do this afternoon.

5. My new favorite saying from our Thursday Night Finance class with Brother Foy : "You can have anything you want, you just can't have everything you want."

6. My killa deal on Pampers today - $1.50 a pack!

7. The 3 caramels I had to buy at Walgreen's so I met the 'same number of coupons as items' rule and no one else knows about them!

8. Watching the boys dance around the Halloween store ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everything.

9. Driving past 4 church buildings on the way to WalMart tonight and pointing out the overflowing parking lots at each one to my boys. You go, Priesthood!

10. Driving past those same 4 churches on the way home at 7:50, just in time to beat all the priesthood traffic.