Indiana Christmas

Yay! we are here in Indiana and loving it! It snowed two days after Christmas. We went walking in it

Larry, Benjamin and my father in law are getting ready for the "walk"


After the walk, Tre and Peter take full advantage of the light dusting we got
go for it, Peter! Get him!!!!


Benjamin fully enjoyed our new Yahtzee game
I think we are still missing a die



and with Grandma - I just love the way he holds on

because I can

brought to you by the new camera and lap top Christmas brought me - from the comfort of our comfy living room couch - Larry didn't even get up to take the picture

Catching up # 2: Cub Scout Christmas Party

Our cub scout skit

Ha Ha! Peter actually sat on Santa's lap this time - probably because he didn't want to suffer my passive aggressive wrath again

So cute - this is the photo that went on my annual newsletter in Gabrielle's section

At least he stands there

It is still all about the bag/candy for Benjamin

Merry Christmas from Cub Scout Pack 123!

Catching up #1: Christmas Church party

On December 3, we had our Church Christmas Party and I actually cajoled Tre into at least standing with Santa

Benjamin didn't seem too interested in sitting with Santa, either


But he did seem to like the candy

And Peter could not by any means be convinced to have a picture with Santa, but I did a picture of him in his "Joseph" costume - we did have a nativity scene put on by the primary. But I didn't get pictures because I was very busy directing children
And Gabrielle was going to sit with Santa, but I was so upset with Peter for not doing so I didn't get a picture of her - Sorry Gabrielle!

Must be Santa!

Again, snagged it off facebook! Thanks Tiffany. Because I got it from facebook, I am now chatting and will have to take time to post the other pics later

I just had to

I should be in bed (Benjamin is already asleep in my arms) but I couldn't help myself

Electric Car

Found the camera, (thank you Jesse!), but why bother with all that work when I can embed?!

I was just looking for stuff Benjamin might like on youtube and found this in a They Might be Giants playlist - he liked it quite a bit

Quote of the Day

Getting ready for Thanksgiving:
Dad: Who wants stuffing?
Tre: NO
Jesse: Yes
Gabrielle: As long as you don't over suffocate it with pepper, yes

My camera, my camera!

Woe is me! woe is me!!!!!! Where on Earth is my camera! The very last time I saw it, LARRY had it and used to to make his profile pic for facebook:

Cool, huh? Yes, that is a picture of us "reflecting" in his sunglasses. He wanted all of us to stick out our tongues, but Gabrielle was the only one that obliged. He photshopped it together of course. And for some reason, he couldn't download the pics onto his laptop, so I might even be able to find the other pics on here; I would have to search. But I can't find the camera and I am dying. Yesterday, Peter took Benjamin on a walk in the wagon (which has a wooden crate in it left from our camping adventure) and when he came back Benjamin was asleep in the crate and I COULDN'T FIND THE CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could pester Larry about it, but since he's out making money I guess I will wait

Pinewood Derby

I am sure there are a billion other reasons why I should be blogging (oh, yeah, Halloween and stuff) but rather than take time to download - I'll just borrow other people's pictures - Pinewood Derby was last weekend and Peter got 2nd place. Yes, my child is hiding his class B. And he's actually wearing mine - I ordered an Adult Medium for me and an Adult Small for him - I sure am glad there was not a picture of me in the small t-shirt I was wearing - frightening it was.
Thanks Tiffany for the picture (I guess I should tell her I posted it, huh?)

Primary Program

I know, I know; there are no pics. But I just had to create an entry thanking the heavens that the primary program is now completed! Whew! It went so well!!!!!!! There were 8 kids there (which is a great turn out for my primary!) I met two of the stake primary councilors and one of them is related to a very good friend of mine from my old ward (whom I met originally in my old, old, old ward - right before I got married she did a tupperware bridal shower for me). We did it!!!!!!!!!!! Now I need to worry about trunk or treating on Wednesday

Baby shower cake

About a week and a half ago, I threw a baby shower for my friend. I, of course, had to make a cake. My friend had actually seen the baby shower cake I made just over a year ago for another friend and I asked her if she wanted a cutsey cake or a dripping with chocolate decadent cake.
She said surprise me.
So, after looking at images on google, I decided I could do both!
I found the ladybug cake, but iced with white buttercream and I thought how much better it would be to cover it in chocolate glaze instead!!!!

that is the best picture I have of the ladybug


thanks to "cake boss" I remembered I could make some super easy ribbon roses out of strips of fondant and I thought it looked so cute! (not humble or anything, am I?)



and here it is, in a much cuter setting than my cluttered kitchen - my wonderful friend R. offered to have the shower in her house. We had a great time!

Quote of the day:

Tre: I'm not going to watch this (Death Tunnel on SyFy) because.... scary movies with blood doesn't go well with hot dogs (I am still silently snickering).

It appears I will never learn

I was on the computer again, and guess what happened:
My little cook decided to have fun with butter this time


"What, Mom? I am not standing on the oven door - what's wrong?" (Yes, it was I who pulled out the step stool again)

At least it was just butter - it is less noticeable, but he still likes it

This is what I get for being on facebook

As stated in the title, I left Benjamin to his own devices as I was posting pictures on facebook. This particular day happened to be Tre's birthday, so the components to the cake, had, of course, not been properly put up (we are talking about me) . I totally spaced the fact that along with the step stool in the middle of the kitchen I had also left out the chocolate ganache. This was not missed by Benjamin. He even moved the step stool to get to it.



I didn't even notice it until he climbed up on me (while I was still on facebook, by the way) and he had actually climbed off and then, strangely, I smelled a very strong aroma that seemed very much like chocolate.
I looked down and he had covered me nearly from head to toe



I found him, covered even more, sitting straight up, but yet asleep, on the couch. I guess fingerpainting with ganache makes you tired.

Once the kids got home, I made them take a picture of all covered elements in once space

ganache is truly one of the best mediums to work with (at least in Benjamin's opinion)

Here is the finished product (in the refrigerator, thank you very much) - I guess I am not one for presentation
Because of practice and baseball games, we didn't actually EAT the cake until the next morning, for breakfast, right before school (yes, Bill Cosby would have much preferred my lack of nutritional fussiness) - you can tell by Tre's face how early it really is.

Happy 12th birthday Tre!!!!

Jesse's Demo

Not that anyone in the world ever views my blog, but my brother just posted his editing demo reel onto youtube. Which, of course, means I can EMBED it! That is just my favorite thing ever! So to all the invisible masses that don't exist who visit my blog - praise my brother and his super cool awesomness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freedom isn't Free

Tonight was the last night that the traveling Vietnam Wall visited our city. I even forgot about it until Larry called me while he and Tre were at boy scouts and said that the troop was going to go visit it. I packed up the kids, drove the 7 seven blocks, (it would just take longer to walk) and found Larry there. It was not too many minutes later - you know, when Benjamin was walking up to the wall and touching the wall - what a perfect picture moment - that I realized that I forgot the camera. I just decided that it was too late and it would be yet another time that I forgot the camera. There was a museum set up and we all were walking around. Later on, Larry found me and said that the flag for his father's division was hanging in one of the exhibits. I ran to the car so I could get the camera.






By the time I had finished taking pictures of the division flag, Benjamin was, of course, asleep.

There are no cute baby touching poignant things pictures, but Benjamin is cute enough. I have very cute pics of the others, too.

She had been mad at us for most of the night, can you tell?
Well, Tre usually looks like this when a camera is pointed at him

My favorite is the one from the candlelight service


As we were about to leave, I got a snapshot at some of the event planners lighting the candles around our county veterans

Parade time

One of the fabulous experiences of living in a small town is that there are parades every time you turn your back. There is one in Spring, there is one for the 4th of July, there is one to celebrate the advent of sports (kind of like a homecoming parade) and there is one in December. I am probably missing one. I do have other pics of the last parade Peter was in and the one last December. But I am trying to be current, so these will go first






And since we were having the parade basically in honor of sports, I had to include a pic of Peter's first soccer game - what a pretty picture of a field - well that little red dot is supposed to be Peter

Quote of the Day

Tre: "Hey Mom, (while watching FOX news), what's IRS?"
"Internal Revenue Service"
"INternal or Eternal?"

Oh, Neal Boortz would be proud

D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y

When I answer these email/facebook surveys (that I LOVE, by the way) and very occasionally come across the "what are your pet peeves" question, I can never remember what they are. I know I have them, but to be put on the spot, it never comes to me. Well, today when reading comments to a recipe that I was looking up (Orange chicken - very delicious), I remembered. I definitely can't stand it when people misspell DEFINITELY. Even when I write definately here in the blogger, it gets underlined with the red squiggly lines indicative that some letters somewhere are awry. But NO ONE seems to know this. I saw 'definately' at least twice in the comments. I then typed it into word and realized why - Word automatically corrects the spelling. Thanks Microsoft - now millions of Americans will remain ignorant of their flaws! Often, I google definitely because I see it misspelled so often I think that my memory is getting fuzzy or maybe it is some weird "Queen's English" spelling and today in my google search I realized I was not the only one to have this pet peeve:
http://d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/
Oh, yes, an entire web site with only one page dedicated to this massively spread error. Then I found this : http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/06/16/the-most-misspelled-word-definitely/
which led me to this: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3362562.html?menu (the latter being a better article, but I included the first one solely for the "Queen's English" reference)
Several years ago, I finally took it upon myself to remember how to spell this word by reminding myself each time when I write it that it has the word "finite" in it. I know, for some reason (maybe some strange hold over from math classes), that the word finite has no "a's" whatsoever in it, nor will ever have room for that pesky little letter. Therefore, "definitely" should definitely never be spelled definately.
I looked definitely up on an online dictionary and it is defined as:

–adverb

1.in a definite manner; unambiguously.

2.unequivocally; positively.

–interjection

3.(used to express complete agreement or strong affirmation): Are you starting your diet tomorrow? Definitely!
which, of course, has its root from the word definite which is defined as:
adj.

1. Having distinct limits: definite restrictions on the sale of alcohol.
   

(for reasons of length, I decided not to include the other 4 definitions since I am rambling enough as it is already)
and from that definition realized that definitely is related to the word finite for the first definition for finite is as follows:

–adjective

1.having bounds or limits; not infinite; measurable.

hmm, sounds a whole lot like the definition for definite
Well there is my rant for the day. And do you think I will remember what to write down as my pet peeve the next time I come across that question in some silly survey?

DEFINITELY!

FEET!

I took these pictures in November of 08, but they are just so cute I couldn't resist. Since he is walking now anyway, these pictures are of days long gone. However, it is really adorable when he insists on putting his baby crocs on. Maybe I need to get pictures of that, too.

Quote of the Day

"I'd rather watch the lamest movie ever than watch THIS" - Peter while watching his brother play video games

Mutant Plant life

I didn't take pictures of the first day of school, but I did take a picture of this two stemmed mushroom. Sorry kids - all you have to remember of the first days of your 2009/2010 year is still life

Tired

I could take this moment to complain, but I won't because that is not the Christian thing to do. So what to do? What to do?
Oh!!!! I know! embed a music video Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for embedding! It is the best thing eva!

One day, many, many moons ago, I was just messin' around on youtube looking around at Anime Music Videos (AMV's) and I came across some vid - I can't remember if it was a Blood+ one (DANG! I CAN'T STAND the fact that the movie is RATED R!!! ARGHHHHH [Larry has volunteered to watch and tell me how it is - gee, thanks]) or if it was a Moribito one, but nevertheless, someone made one to a song by this band Spelling Nadja.
Man, I loved the music, so I looked up the band - only to find another song on youtube - I didn't realize how obscure a Portugese band could be - and I found this song which is my favorite yet. I sent the link to my brother - aficionado of all things musically strange and he just didn't dig it as much as I thought he would. I was of course disappointed at first, but now in my current melancholoy muffled despair (I just can't describe my funk that I am in any better than that), I have realized - so what. I like it and that's good enough

One day I may get the pictures off my camera loaded up - I tried several weeks ago and something went awry and I just haven't had time since to try it again

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!

Or grandma, it depends on who you are talking to in my household. My mother in law's birthday is today! Happy birthday! Other than bringing my most wonderful husband in the world, her importance is so central in our home. She may not know it because we don't call her often enough, but she is mentioned often in our house. She is a great mother and grandmother and our lives just would not be the same without her.

I was going to put a picture of her (I have it on my digital photo frame [that she gave us!!!] and it is one of my favorite pictures of her) but there is something wrong with my external hard drive where all my photos live and even though I can post pictures I cannot view them before hand. I never named every single photo so I would have to know the number.

Hey look! I found it because the awesome picture frame she gave me listed the number!!!! She is just so great!