And these three p's would be: Prayer, Political Correctness, and Pyrex
Prayers:
Tavita is finally getting to the point where he wants to say prayers. Before whenever we'd try to help him say a prayer he'd just say, "No". Anyway, yesterday he asked to say the prayer at lunch. I was helping him along and he was doing great. Prayer went something like this:
He'd generally repeat everything I said but where there's a parantheses he inserted himself.
Thank Thee for the food, Thank Thee for our house, Thank Thee for "pumpkins".....Please bless Daddy in "Auntie" (I giggled and repeated "in")"Mommy" in "Bray"....
I was trying to say "Please bless Daddy in Australlia" He thought I was saying "and" and he kept trying to figure out who else we were thankful for.
Politically Correct:
Brayden has a slight fetish with UPS/Fed-ex/any type of delivery driver. He fondly calls them "Boxmen". He loves a visit from them because more times than not they come bearing goodies from familiy. We see their trucks often because the guy across the street from us owns some sort of online business and is constantly sending and recieving thing.
Janessa has gotten a seasonal job as a "Delivery assistant" with UPS. We went to drop her off for orientation and as we were pulling through to go back out Brayden saw the endless lines of UPS trucks...
B: "Ohhh, so this is where all the Boxmen come from."
M: "Yep, now Auntie is going to be a Boxman."
B(with HUGE awe-struck eyes): "Wow, cool...wait, you mean she's gonna be a BoxWOMAN."
M: "Sorry, you're right she'll be a Boxwoman."
We went to go pick her up and I told him to keep an eye out for her.
B:"Is she wearing boxman, I mean woman, clothes."
M: "No, just regular clothes, she'll wear her boxwoman clothes when she drives on the truck."
The second Janessa got in the car.
B:"Auntie let me see your clothes. This is so cool!!!"
Pyrex:
I've heard a lot of stories about how Pyrex sold their copyrights to some company in China. They changed the make up of the glass in order to produce it at lower cost. However, the new components cause the glass to spontaneously explode. I didn't think it all too common until last night. I pulled some funeral potatoes out of the oven and was about to set them down with the other end of the glass just burst. I hadn't set it down on anything hot, hadn't knocked it, nothing. It just exploded in my hands. Luckily it was the other end and I didn't get cut. However, it's happened to me a good handful of other people I know. I'm now in the market for a new set of non-pyrex bakeware.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
A few giggles
Junior has our camera in Australia right now so I don't have any pics to post, nor will I until Thanksgiving. I decided that despite that I still needed to take the time to blog, especially so Junior can know our going ons over here.
Today the morning started with a conjested Brayden saying he was too sick to go to school. He did have an ugly sounding cough but other than that was acting fine. Tavita was the same way except he had a runny nose more than a cough (that kid's nose runs non-stop if the weather dips below 50). Even though I know he would have been fine at preschool, I didn't think it was fair to the other kids in case he was sick. Brayden was bummed about missing school so I told him we'd do school at home. He got so excited. "You'll be Miss. Katie and Tavita gets to be in my class today! I'm so excited."
I looked at the schedule and saw todays lesson was supposed to be on the First Thanksgiving and ovals. Brayden already has his shapes down pretty well and Tavita was kind of taking part in the whole school thing pretty intermitintly. I decided to skip the oval thing and focus on Thanksgiving. While I tried pulling a lesson togther I told Brayden to practice writing his name, which is how he starts his day at preschool. Note that when I try working with him at home it's like pulling teeth to get him to even trace his name. He just keeps saying he can't do it, he needs help etc. Anyway, he sits down and in two minutes is back, "Here you go Miss. Katie."
I was shocked when I looked at the paper. Granted he spelled his name "Bradyeb" but he had all the letters (except the n) there and they were all very legible. Before I could really say anything he asks, "Would you like me to write Tavita's name?" I reply, "Sure, that'd be great." Thinking there's no way anything is going to come of it. He comes back with a paper that says "Taat". He at least had an idea of what Tavita's name consisted of.
I asked: "Brayden how come you always have such a hard time writting your name for me, but do such a great job for Miss. Katie?"
His response: "I don't know Miss. Katie just tells me to do it so I do. Right now your Miss Katie so I did it."
Apparently if I ever want anything done I need to put on the Miss. Katie hat.
We then had a lesson on the First Thanksgiving, talked about the pilgrims and indians, found items around the house and compared them to what the pilgrims had (thing of soap/pilgrims had to make soap, a lightbulb/pilgrims only had candles etc).
Then we talked about chores pilgirm boys and girls would do.
We finished the day by making little tabletop turkey decorations out of paper bags. This was the one part of the lesson Tavita was totally involved. The boys loved it and they came out really cute.
Other funny things said today:
Brayden playing around with Kalei. Stops, looks at her and says whole-heartedly, "Leilei I love you so much, one day I'm gonna marry you. When you're all grown up, we're gonna get married."
At dinner today Tavita was being a stinker about staying put so I strapped him into his booster seat, which he was not at all happy about. Brayden had finished his dinner and was running around playing. He was goofing around by the couch and playfully yelled, "Help, I'm stuck!"
To which Tavita responded as he pulled on his straps that were restraining him, "No Bray, I'm MORE stuck."
We were acting out Samuel the Lamanite for FHE. Brayden was playing Samuel and had run away from the wicked Nephites (Tavita)who was threatening to kill him. As he was leaving I was playing the voice of the Lord and commanded him to return to the city. He was so into his part. He looked up the stairs and all around as if trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, rolled his eyes, then said, "Okay, if you say so."
I was vaccuming and Tavita starting chewing on the cord. Janessa stopped him and explained that doing that could electrocute him, give really big owies and he could die. Shortly after he slipped and started crying. She picked him up and said, "Did you get an owie?
"No, a really big owie, I'm gonna die."
Today the morning started with a conjested Brayden saying he was too sick to go to school. He did have an ugly sounding cough but other than that was acting fine. Tavita was the same way except he had a runny nose more than a cough (that kid's nose runs non-stop if the weather dips below 50). Even though I know he would have been fine at preschool, I didn't think it was fair to the other kids in case he was sick. Brayden was bummed about missing school so I told him we'd do school at home. He got so excited. "You'll be Miss. Katie and Tavita gets to be in my class today! I'm so excited."
I looked at the schedule and saw todays lesson was supposed to be on the First Thanksgiving and ovals. Brayden already has his shapes down pretty well and Tavita was kind of taking part in the whole school thing pretty intermitintly. I decided to skip the oval thing and focus on Thanksgiving. While I tried pulling a lesson togther I told Brayden to practice writing his name, which is how he starts his day at preschool. Note that when I try working with him at home it's like pulling teeth to get him to even trace his name. He just keeps saying he can't do it, he needs help etc. Anyway, he sits down and in two minutes is back, "Here you go Miss. Katie."
I was shocked when I looked at the paper. Granted he spelled his name "Bradyeb" but he had all the letters (except the n) there and they were all very legible. Before I could really say anything he asks, "Would you like me to write Tavita's name?" I reply, "Sure, that'd be great." Thinking there's no way anything is going to come of it. He comes back with a paper that says "Taat". He at least had an idea of what Tavita's name consisted of.
I asked: "Brayden how come you always have such a hard time writting your name for me, but do such a great job for Miss. Katie?"
His response: "I don't know Miss. Katie just tells me to do it so I do. Right now your Miss Katie so I did it."
Apparently if I ever want anything done I need to put on the Miss. Katie hat.
We then had a lesson on the First Thanksgiving, talked about the pilgrims and indians, found items around the house and compared them to what the pilgrims had (thing of soap/pilgrims had to make soap, a lightbulb/pilgrims only had candles etc).
Then we talked about chores pilgirm boys and girls would do.
We finished the day by making little tabletop turkey decorations out of paper bags. This was the one part of the lesson Tavita was totally involved. The boys loved it and they came out really cute.
Other funny things said today:
Brayden playing around with Kalei. Stops, looks at her and says whole-heartedly, "Leilei I love you so much, one day I'm gonna marry you. When you're all grown up, we're gonna get married."
At dinner today Tavita was being a stinker about staying put so I strapped him into his booster seat, which he was not at all happy about. Brayden had finished his dinner and was running around playing. He was goofing around by the couch and playfully yelled, "Help, I'm stuck!"
To which Tavita responded as he pulled on his straps that were restraining him, "No Bray, I'm MORE stuck."
We were acting out Samuel the Lamanite for FHE. Brayden was playing Samuel and had run away from the wicked Nephites (Tavita)who was threatening to kill him. As he was leaving I was playing the voice of the Lord and commanded him to return to the city. He was so into his part. He looked up the stairs and all around as if trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, rolled his eyes, then said, "Okay, if you say so."
I was vaccuming and Tavita starting chewing on the cord. Janessa stopped him and explained that doing that could electrocute him, give really big owies and he could die. Shortly after he slipped and started crying. She picked him up and said, "Did you get an owie?
"No, a really big owie, I'm gonna die."
Thursday, November 12, 2009
More Toilet Humor
Okay, I know that I've been posting a lot of this stuff lately. There's just something about kids and how they respond to the call of nature that gives me a good laugh. The other day we were eating dinner and Tavita went upstairs to use the bathroom. Somewhere along the way he slipped in and couldn't figure how to get out. Apparently it didn't bother him too much because he never called for help but rather continued sitting that way, and took care of business. When we went upstairs to see what was going on he just gave us a look like, "Huh, look at the mess I got myself into." He really wasn't bothered by it at all.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
And then she blew!!!
I have to start of by apologizing to anyone who finds this blog gross but I had to document it.
Anyway, Kalei has been having some issues as far as digestion and elimination goes. In fact today marked day 4 of no doodies. We stopped giving her solids and have been pumping her full of prune juice (had to use a syringe to spray it in her mouth) and even gave her a little Epsom salt. We were preparing to take more drastic measures (aka a suppository) tomorrow. I was dreading having to do it and was wishing and praying she'd take care of things on her own. This evening we were getting dinner ready when Junior called me over to take a look at Kalei. I looked in her bouncer and noticed a nice little puddle of baby poopy next to her. This is when I had a defining moment as a mom. I found myself cheering for nasty, gooey poop.
I went to pick her up and realized it was on her other side as well, picked her up some more and realized it was all over her back and front as well. We stripped her and I was utterly shocked at the sheer volume of the mess. I was anticipating a decent sized explosion given there was several days of build-up, but I've never seen anything like it. She was wearing a bigger diaper (we accidentally opened an old pack of Tavita's size 4s instead of her size 3s) and the thing was filled beyond capacity in every direction. It was all over her chair and CAKED all over her little body.
The boys were running around plugging their noses, announcing to the world how bad it smelled (remember she'd been pumped full of prune juice). Junior was just cracking up at the whole situation, though he was kind enough to hold the sprayer for me. Janessa was a champ and took on the task of cleaning up the bouncer while I washed the culprit.
After a good spray down and a bath, Kalei was as good as new. She had a blast drinking from the sink as we washed her, after she had her fill of drink she played with the faucet absolutely enthralled with the running water.
All I can say is after 3 kids of my own and a lot of babysitting, Kalei hands down wins the award for biggest explosion I have EVER witnessed!
This picture was part way through clean up but gives you a good idea of what we were dealing with.
The proud producer!
Quick side note. As you know Brayden and Tavita see no point in reserving dressing-up for Halloween. They decided to spread the cheer and were made up into monsters for other holidays. Brayden was the 4th of July monster and Tavita was the Christmas monster, note their coordinating colors. Oh the things that entertain little boys.
Anyway, Kalei has been having some issues as far as digestion and elimination goes. In fact today marked day 4 of no doodies. We stopped giving her solids and have been pumping her full of prune juice (had to use a syringe to spray it in her mouth) and even gave her a little Epsom salt. We were preparing to take more drastic measures (aka a suppository) tomorrow. I was dreading having to do it and was wishing and praying she'd take care of things on her own. This evening we were getting dinner ready when Junior called me over to take a look at Kalei. I looked in her bouncer and noticed a nice little puddle of baby poopy next to her. This is when I had a defining moment as a mom. I found myself cheering for nasty, gooey poop.
I went to pick her up and realized it was on her other side as well, picked her up some more and realized it was all over her back and front as well. We stripped her and I was utterly shocked at the sheer volume of the mess. I was anticipating a decent sized explosion given there was several days of build-up, but I've never seen anything like it. She was wearing a bigger diaper (we accidentally opened an old pack of Tavita's size 4s instead of her size 3s) and the thing was filled beyond capacity in every direction. It was all over her chair and CAKED all over her little body.
The boys were running around plugging their noses, announcing to the world how bad it smelled (remember she'd been pumped full of prune juice). Junior was just cracking up at the whole situation, though he was kind enough to hold the sprayer for me. Janessa was a champ and took on the task of cleaning up the bouncer while I washed the culprit.
After a good spray down and a bath, Kalei was as good as new. She had a blast drinking from the sink as we washed her, after she had her fill of drink she played with the faucet absolutely enthralled with the running water.
All I can say is after 3 kids of my own and a lot of babysitting, Kalei hands down wins the award for biggest explosion I have EVER witnessed!
This picture was part way through clean up but gives you a good idea of what we were dealing with.
The proud producer!
Quick side note. As you know Brayden and Tavita see no point in reserving dressing-up for Halloween. They decided to spread the cheer and were made up into monsters for other holidays. Brayden was the 4th of July monster and Tavita was the Christmas monster, note their coordinating colors. Oh the things that entertain little boys.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
"This is Haloween..."
Well another year of Halloweening and trick-or-treating has come and gone. Now enters the phase of sugar overload and rotting teeth!
The boys had a blast again this year. Anyone that knows my boys know how much they love to dress-up. Having pirates, cowboys, superheroes and dinosaurs running around are a daily occurance at our house. Haloween is great for them cause all their friends dress-up with them, and then of course there's the candy!
The first night to dress up was on Thursday for the ward Halloween party. Only problem: Church rules is no masks. I told the boys this as we were getting ready to leave and they insisted on changing costumes, they were supposed to be Wolverine and Spiderman.
Brayden quickly transformed into a ninja. Black ninja suit, a headband, chinese writing on the cheek and a pirate sword turned ninja sword and he was set.\
Apparently Ninja's have a very particular face and sign
Tavita (remember he is on a clothing strike) was running around in underwear and a fireman's hat shouting, "I fireguy." He was refusing to put any other clothes on and since "Fireguy" covers quite a few words for him I convinced him he should be a "fireknife dancer" (this word is covered in "fireguy). Quick wrap of a lava lava, a wrapping paper tube with balls taped to the end, some duct tape and tissue paper we had ourselves a fireknife dancer. He was a hit and did several performances at the party. Brayden is now insisting on being a fireknife dancer next year, we may have to head home to Hawaii so he can trick or treat in it!
Chee-hoo
Kalei was already geared up to be a cat (she was going to be Catwoman) but as I was digging through the dress-up bucket I came across a gorrilla suit. We stuck her in it and then she fell asleep. So she was "Queen Kong" half the night and Catwoman the other half after she got to hot.
"Queen Kong" already had the top pulled off, cause she was too hot. It was one of those where the hood looked like the face.
Now she's a cat
Ready to Go!
Hangin out at the party
Junior playing Halloween twister with some of his scouts
On Halloween, we stuck with original costumes and headed out for trick-or-treating. Kalei and I tagged along for our cul-de-sac and the next one over and headed home to pass out candy. Good thing we did since we got a whole 5 groups of trick-or-treaters. There was only us and one of our neighbors home and passing out candy so every one just skipped us. Needless to say those that did come got hooked up and we still have a TON leftover. Good thing I was sure to by mine and Junior's favorite kind of candies in case this should happen! The boys had a blast and Tavita keeps asking to go "Halloween" again and doesn't like our answer of, "Next year."
Our little Trick-or-Treaters
Oh yeah, she may not take a bottle, but she loves a sippy cup!
Must have it!
Got it!
The boys had a blast again this year. Anyone that knows my boys know how much they love to dress-up. Having pirates, cowboys, superheroes and dinosaurs running around are a daily occurance at our house. Haloween is great for them cause all their friends dress-up with them, and then of course there's the candy!
The first night to dress up was on Thursday for the ward Halloween party. Only problem: Church rules is no masks. I told the boys this as we were getting ready to leave and they insisted on changing costumes, they were supposed to be Wolverine and Spiderman.
Brayden quickly transformed into a ninja. Black ninja suit, a headband, chinese writing on the cheek and a pirate sword turned ninja sword and he was set.\
Apparently Ninja's have a very particular face and sign
Tavita (remember he is on a clothing strike) was running around in underwear and a fireman's hat shouting, "I fireguy." He was refusing to put any other clothes on and since "Fireguy" covers quite a few words for him I convinced him he should be a "fireknife dancer" (this word is covered in "fireguy). Quick wrap of a lava lava, a wrapping paper tube with balls taped to the end, some duct tape and tissue paper we had ourselves a fireknife dancer. He was a hit and did several performances at the party. Brayden is now insisting on being a fireknife dancer next year, we may have to head home to Hawaii so he can trick or treat in it!
Chee-hoo
Kalei was already geared up to be a cat (she was going to be Catwoman) but as I was digging through the dress-up bucket I came across a gorrilla suit. We stuck her in it and then she fell asleep. So she was "Queen Kong" half the night and Catwoman the other half after she got to hot.
"Queen Kong" already had the top pulled off, cause she was too hot. It was one of those where the hood looked like the face.
Now she's a cat
Ready to Go!
Hangin out at the party
Junior playing Halloween twister with some of his scouts
On Halloween, we stuck with original costumes and headed out for trick-or-treating. Kalei and I tagged along for our cul-de-sac and the next one over and headed home to pass out candy. Good thing we did since we got a whole 5 groups of trick-or-treaters. There was only us and one of our neighbors home and passing out candy so every one just skipped us. Needless to say those that did come got hooked up and we still have a TON leftover. Good thing I was sure to by mine and Junior's favorite kind of candies in case this should happen! The boys had a blast and Tavita keeps asking to go "Halloween" again and doesn't like our answer of, "Next year."
Our little Trick-or-Treaters
Oh yeah, she may not take a bottle, but she loves a sippy cup!
Must have it!
Got it!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Halloween Fun
The past little while has been all about Halloween. The boys are so excited for it. Tavita walks around singing his own song of, "Hal, Hal, Hallow, Halloween." Brayden sings endless songs he's learned in preschool and talks non-stop about "spooky things".
On Saturday my parents were visiting so we headed out to the pumpkin patch we went to last year. It's not a big fancy one, an older gentleman runs it and you get to cut the pumpkin yourself. We managed to get there just as a 15-min storm blew in and it was FREEZING. Needless to say it was a very brief visit but got our pumpkins regardless.
Lei Lei selected her pumpkin, err gourd, and decided to accessorize with it!
Brayden cutting his pumpkin of choice
The biggest kid of them all with his pumpkin. He searched everywhere and was so excited to find the "perfect one"
Tavita hacking away to obtain his prize
Monday we decided to get into the Halloween spirit and do some activities. While Junior was at work I helped the boys make handprint spiders. You fold a piece of paper in half trace their four fingers and a bit of the hand on the fold. Cut it out, unfold and you have a spider! The boys loved coloring them and putting them around the house so we had a "spooky house." Brayden even cut a few out on his own.
Then we started in on the dessert, "Ghost in the Graveyard." Use pudding, whip cream, and crushed oreos to make the bottom layer. Sprinkle with more crushed oreos to make the dirt and refrigerate. Decorated some cookies to look like headstones. The boys then put the headstones throughout the "dirt", and added some candy corn and pumpkins. Then we dolloped some whip cream, added eyes and we had our ghost. The boys were so excited to eat it. Only problem is they did so much snacking on candy and cookies while we made it that they couldn't eat more than a bite or two once we served it up. I didn't think I could put my boys on a sugar-overload but I succeeded!
To top the night off we did pumpkin carving. The boys lasted long enough to scrape a few seeds out and do a few cuts on their pumpkins then the rest was left to Junior. I did help on the final one though.
Daddy helping Brayden carve his pumpkin-scarecrow
Mommy helping Tavita with the "Boo" ghost
The finished products
The boys proud of their art. Yes, Tavita is wearing nothing but a jacket. He seems to be going through a bit of a clothing strike at the moment.
We got "spooked" while we were carrying out our festivities. The doorbell rang and we found a paper ghost and some goodies with the instructions to do the same to two other people. Today, the boys and I made some cupcakes with sprinkles and ,you guessed it, canycorn and pumpkins. Yet another sugar-overload, gotta love Halloween time! Tonight Junior took the boys to deliver them and they loved "spooking" their friends.
Today, Wednesday, some friends of ours invited us for a trainride a family in their neighborhood puts on. I have never seen anything like it. The front house is an average house, nothing eye catching. However, you look a little closer and you see there are minature train tracks laid out. We're talking permanent tracks. You walk around the corner and it's a slew of huge gorgeous homes. Apparently the parents (who live in the front house) owned a ton of land behind the house and owned a very successful contracting bussiness. As their kids married, they gave them some of the land and built them a house. The entire familiy lives there and share a pool, tennis court, volleyball court, soccerfield etc. The train tracks work their way around all the houses with little split off so it can go right up to each house. Every year for Halloween the do a haunted train ride and then Polar Express at Christmas. They go ALL out and open it to the public for free.
The boys loved it, Tavita kept asking to go back to the "pumpkin train", but were rather spooked by it at the same time. It's obvious they attract quite a crowd at times because you go through a series of tunnels and tents converted into little spook alleys with areas roped off as if you were waiting in line for a ride at Disneyland. Fortunately we got there before the crowds but the boys managed to get spooked enough. Brayde scares really easily, you can give him just about anything and his imagination will run with it.
We went through the first little tunnel where they had body bags and coffins. Brayden kind of held his breath and walked through choosing not to look at anything. There was a ghostly looking guy standing real still in a coffin and as people walked by he'd try and scare them. Since we had little kids he simply waved. Brayden picked up the pace a bit but Tavita just stopped and waved back. The guy busted up laughing.
We went into the next tent where it was just an open room with the whole zig-zag stand in line thing, except no one was inthere. They had a giant face projected on the wall and a booming voice (kind of like Wizard of Oz). The boys walked in the tent and just froze. I was videoing and tried asking Brayden what was going on. He was too scared to even acknowledge someone was talking to him. Junior told him we were going to have to walk through (note it was still daylight so the face was pretty faded, of all the things I didn't think it would scare the boys). Brayden started walking very hesitantly and when he got to the first turn in the zig-zag, right next to the face) he bolted. We're talking sprinting faster then I knew a 4-year old could run. He ran up and down each zig-zag, pushed his way through the people standing at the exit and kept going. The poor kid was running for his life. Junior had to go after him and bring him back.
Tavita finally got his scare when we were getting to board the train. They had a light show with the intro to "Nightmare Before Christmas" and a flashing jack-o-lantern telling the story. Again, I didn't think it would scare the kids. A lot of the other kids weren't paying attention. All the sudden I hear a wail of "Mommy" Tavita jumped out of his chair and ran to me. I tried telling him it was okay. He pointed to the jack-o-lantern and said, "no, that's not okay." Brayden was so proud he wasn't scared. Funny how somethings that terrify some kids my boys don't blink at but then they are petrified of other things.
In the end the train ride was just spooky enough to make them squeal but not terrify them. It was a lot of fun and I thought it was great the family put on such a fun thing for the community.
The guy who tried to scare Tavita and got a wave in return, out walking about.
The train going past the front house (It's far but we were getting back in the car and thought we'd grab a quick shot between all the cars going by)
I'm glad Halloween provides for so many fun activities while we hide in our houses from the weather outside (it snowed today).
On Saturday my parents were visiting so we headed out to the pumpkin patch we went to last year. It's not a big fancy one, an older gentleman runs it and you get to cut the pumpkin yourself. We managed to get there just as a 15-min storm blew in and it was FREEZING. Needless to say it was a very brief visit but got our pumpkins regardless.
Lei Lei selected her pumpkin, err gourd, and decided to accessorize with it!
Brayden cutting his pumpkin of choice
The biggest kid of them all with his pumpkin. He searched everywhere and was so excited to find the "perfect one"
Tavita hacking away to obtain his prize
Monday we decided to get into the Halloween spirit and do some activities. While Junior was at work I helped the boys make handprint spiders. You fold a piece of paper in half trace their four fingers and a bit of the hand on the fold. Cut it out, unfold and you have a spider! The boys loved coloring them and putting them around the house so we had a "spooky house." Brayden even cut a few out on his own.
Then we started in on the dessert, "Ghost in the Graveyard." Use pudding, whip cream, and crushed oreos to make the bottom layer. Sprinkle with more crushed oreos to make the dirt and refrigerate. Decorated some cookies to look like headstones. The boys then put the headstones throughout the "dirt", and added some candy corn and pumpkins. Then we dolloped some whip cream, added eyes and we had our ghost. The boys were so excited to eat it. Only problem is they did so much snacking on candy and cookies while we made it that they couldn't eat more than a bite or two once we served it up. I didn't think I could put my boys on a sugar-overload but I succeeded!
To top the night off we did pumpkin carving. The boys lasted long enough to scrape a few seeds out and do a few cuts on their pumpkins then the rest was left to Junior. I did help on the final one though.
Daddy helping Brayden carve his pumpkin-scarecrow
Mommy helping Tavita with the "Boo" ghost
The finished products
The boys proud of their art. Yes, Tavita is wearing nothing but a jacket. He seems to be going through a bit of a clothing strike at the moment.
We got "spooked" while we were carrying out our festivities. The doorbell rang and we found a paper ghost and some goodies with the instructions to do the same to two other people. Today, the boys and I made some cupcakes with sprinkles and ,you guessed it, canycorn and pumpkins. Yet another sugar-overload, gotta love Halloween time! Tonight Junior took the boys to deliver them and they loved "spooking" their friends.
Today, Wednesday, some friends of ours invited us for a trainride a family in their neighborhood puts on. I have never seen anything like it. The front house is an average house, nothing eye catching. However, you look a little closer and you see there are minature train tracks laid out. We're talking permanent tracks. You walk around the corner and it's a slew of huge gorgeous homes. Apparently the parents (who live in the front house) owned a ton of land behind the house and owned a very successful contracting bussiness. As their kids married, they gave them some of the land and built them a house. The entire familiy lives there and share a pool, tennis court, volleyball court, soccerfield etc. The train tracks work their way around all the houses with little split off so it can go right up to each house. Every year for Halloween the do a haunted train ride and then Polar Express at Christmas. They go ALL out and open it to the public for free.
The boys loved it, Tavita kept asking to go back to the "pumpkin train", but were rather spooked by it at the same time. It's obvious they attract quite a crowd at times because you go through a series of tunnels and tents converted into little spook alleys with areas roped off as if you were waiting in line for a ride at Disneyland. Fortunately we got there before the crowds but the boys managed to get spooked enough. Brayde scares really easily, you can give him just about anything and his imagination will run with it.
We went through the first little tunnel where they had body bags and coffins. Brayden kind of held his breath and walked through choosing not to look at anything. There was a ghostly looking guy standing real still in a coffin and as people walked by he'd try and scare them. Since we had little kids he simply waved. Brayden picked up the pace a bit but Tavita just stopped and waved back. The guy busted up laughing.
We went into the next tent where it was just an open room with the whole zig-zag stand in line thing, except no one was inthere. They had a giant face projected on the wall and a booming voice (kind of like Wizard of Oz). The boys walked in the tent and just froze. I was videoing and tried asking Brayden what was going on. He was too scared to even acknowledge someone was talking to him. Junior told him we were going to have to walk through (note it was still daylight so the face was pretty faded, of all the things I didn't think it would scare the boys). Brayden started walking very hesitantly and when he got to the first turn in the zig-zag, right next to the face) he bolted. We're talking sprinting faster then I knew a 4-year old could run. He ran up and down each zig-zag, pushed his way through the people standing at the exit and kept going. The poor kid was running for his life. Junior had to go after him and bring him back.
Tavita finally got his scare when we were getting to board the train. They had a light show with the intro to "Nightmare Before Christmas" and a flashing jack-o-lantern telling the story. Again, I didn't think it would scare the kids. A lot of the other kids weren't paying attention. All the sudden I hear a wail of "Mommy" Tavita jumped out of his chair and ran to me. I tried telling him it was okay. He pointed to the jack-o-lantern and said, "no, that's not okay." Brayden was so proud he wasn't scared. Funny how somethings that terrify some kids my boys don't blink at but then they are petrified of other things.
In the end the train ride was just spooky enough to make them squeal but not terrify them. It was a lot of fun and I thought it was great the family put on such a fun thing for the community.
The guy who tried to scare Tavita and got a wave in return, out walking about.
The train going past the front house (It's far but we were getting back in the car and thought we'd grab a quick shot between all the cars going by)
I'm glad Halloween provides for so many fun activities while we hide in our houses from the weather outside (it snowed today).
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
1st foods and my 3 girls???
So I've been lazy and even though Kalei is nearing 5 months I just started her on solids last Wednesday. Neither of my boys would have anything to do with rice cereal, it would come out of their mouths as fast as I put it in. For that reason, we always use poi as a first food for our kids. It's great because it has more sustance to it than rice cereal but it's more basic with no known allergies. So in following suit tasteless, glue-like poi was Kalei's first food. Just like her brothers she LOVED it! I couldn't believe how much she ate, I almost couldn't give it to her fast enough. We're going to have another poi baby on our hands (aka, she's gonna be huge they call the stuff natural steroids) We've added in banana (doesn't care for it too much I think it's too sweet) and apple. She's so cute to watch eat because she always wants her own spoon to "eat" with. She does an excellent job of painting her face before she gets it in her mouth but hey, at least she's attempting to feed herself!
She got sick of waiting for her food.
So you all know this adorable, beautiful girl.
But have you met my other two daughters???
May I present to you Brandy and Talitha!
The other night I was going through a box of girl clothes my aunt had given me. I pulled out a dress and got this impulse to stick it out Tavita. I decided to complete the ensemble with a headband. We could not stop laughing and Tavita was thoroughly enjoying it!
Tavita struttin his stuff
Brayden desperately wanted to join in the fun. He was non-stop laughing and enjoyed being goofy. Should I be concerned my boys enjoy cross-dressing so much?
Kalei's new favorits spot
Tavita and his "sticky poptick"
We were getting ready to go out for the night and the boys knew that meant a fun night with Grandma. Tavita had been eyeing the carmel corn I made all day long and as soon as we said it was movie time he squealed and ran. When he returned he had the bowl and was beaming.
The boy's pet snake
Man, Tavita was heartbroken when we had them let it go a few days later. We explained to him we had to let it go to get food and find his family. He'll randomly say, "snake went bye-bye. Find his dad". It was sooo sad to watch.
She got sick of waiting for her food.
So you all know this adorable, beautiful girl.
But have you met my other two daughters???
May I present to you Brandy and Talitha!
The other night I was going through a box of girl clothes my aunt had given me. I pulled out a dress and got this impulse to stick it out Tavita. I decided to complete the ensemble with a headband. We could not stop laughing and Tavita was thoroughly enjoying it!
Tavita struttin his stuff
Brayden desperately wanted to join in the fun. He was non-stop laughing and enjoyed being goofy. Should I be concerned my boys enjoy cross-dressing so much?
Kalei's new favorits spot
Tavita and his "sticky poptick"
We were getting ready to go out for the night and the boys knew that meant a fun night with Grandma. Tavita had been eyeing the carmel corn I made all day long and as soon as we said it was movie time he squealed and ran. When he returned he had the bowl and was beaming.
The boy's pet snake
Man, Tavita was heartbroken when we had them let it go a few days later. We explained to him we had to let it go to get food and find his family. He'll randomly say, "snake went bye-bye. Find his dad". It was sooo sad to watch.
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