Gingerbread Building

During holiday break, we need some entertainment before we open our new presents. SOOOO . . . When I found a gingerbread house on sale (25% off already!) I HAD to buy it.

Mommy and Jayci handled most of the icing jobs and the kids added the candy. So we decorated . . .

. . . and we ate a little bit too.

And we had a lot of fun!!!

(Mommy tip: The frame has to dry for 30 min! It is very hard to wait 30

WHOLE minutes to start decorating . . . .)

Pumpkin Carving Time

Karis has an easy job! Mr. Potato Head pumpkin pieces. Great present from Granna. Thank you!

Jayci picked a "scary" pattern off bhg.com. She was so excited to carve it herself. No, I did it actually, but she pressed a push pin through the lines of the pattern and thought it was awesome.

Of course, Cade was delighted to get all the gunk out of the middle of the pumpkin but even more excited to roast the seeds.

Finished product. They are totally rotten now but it was a really fun afternoon! (Try this tip to keep your pumpkins fresh. I didn't try it in time.)

Frogs!

We have frogs! Tiny little baby froggies joined our backyard last week and got caught. The poor little things have been played with and played with all weekend. (Yesterday we even had to take a frog break so we wouldn't hurt them or make them tired. ;))

Blueberry Picking

Today we went blueberry picking with a couple of friends. It was so much fun but it didn't take long to fill our buckets with wonderful blueberries. "Only pick the blue ones!" YUM! We already made a list of the yummy things we are going to make with our catch. Pancakes and muffins top the list!!

Birthday Frustration

So I have a little venting to do -

Birthdays. More specifically, Birthday Parties.

My kids have spring birthdays so we are in full swing of birthday season. I am happy to report that we are surviving with one more birthday of our own to go, but my problem is all the parties we are invited to. Jayci is just now getting to the age that her friends are all having parties and of course we have church friends that invite us too.

I never mind going but we CANNOT afford to give people the kind of presents we are receiving from people. Make sense? I would LOVE it if our party guests would limit the amount they spend on my kids but I'm not sure how to say this in an invitation, etc.

Then I feel cheap because we show up with a small, inexpensive gift among MANY pricey presents. I know that is my issue and I shouldn't feel like I have to measure up to someone else's standard. Yet, I do. I set a price limit for myself but even that cannot last for 3 kids' friends over the years. I try to buy on clearance too but can't afford to buy a years worth of gifts even on clearance.

I want to bring inexpensive gifts but not CHEAP ones. Make sense?

Any suggestions???

Boys will be girls?

I'm curious. My son would like nothing more than to dress up in his sister's dress up clothes (not his boy ones) and pretend to be various female characters from the shows they watch. So, does he just want to be like his sister? Is it because he is always with me? Is this different with little boys that don't spend all day with Mommy and big sister?

Don't get me wrong - he will sock you in the gut if you let your guard down and/or shoot you with his "shoot gun". He'd like to use a play gun but his finger will work in a pinch.

This drives Daddy crazy. I think it's kinda funny as long as he grows out of it. I feel sure it's a phase but just once I want him to say he wants to be Freddie instead of Daphne!! Heck, I'd be happy with Scooby!

Feeling Halloweenie

Today was a spontaneous halloween fun day. We went to the Pumpkin Patch after nap, watched the Backyardagains "It's Great to be a Ghost", and made pumkins/ghosts/cats out of orange playdough.

I was thinking, while Iwas building awesome right arm strenth stirring homemade playdough, "This is the life. This is what having kids and being a mom has always been about to me . . . and it won't last long." Snif. It made me a little sad.

Nonetheless, it was an awesome day. I don't know why I don't do more things like this. Maybe I just

needed a day to realize how fun it is and that the days of being a dorky mom in my kids eyes are just around the corner.

We called it a Halloweenie day! I have a feeling there will be more. . . .

**Playdough recipe (makes enough for 2 kids, in my opinion)

1 c flour

1/2 c salt

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp oil

1 c water

Stir dry ingredients in a pot on the stove top. Add oil and water and mix well. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.

Pour dough into a bowl and cover with a wet towel for 1 min. Make a well and add 10-15 drops of food coloring (ratio for orange is 2 red : 1 yellow). Knead together until color is uniform. ENJOY!

Meet the Family

This is Matt while running his first trail race here locally. He LOVED it and will run as many of them as we can stand. In this race, he finished 2nd in his age group and 7th overall. YEA! He also ran the San Diego Rock 'N' Roll Marathon on June 1st and survived. He has finally found a culture that supports his habit - running!
This is Sharon and Cade at the Zoo. We rode the gondola across the park so it was a bit windy up there. I'm usually the one taking the pics so I couldn't find many to choose from to post.
Here is Jayci riding her daddy's shoulders at Point Loma, her new favorite place to visit. They have tons of "cremmy crabs" (hermit crabs, even though they aren't really hermit crabs but plain ol' ocean crabs) in the tidal pools. She loves to see them but will NOT get close.
Here's Cade. At 16 months he's quite a handfull. Tonight he bit his sister so hard it left red marks on her face until bedtime. He's such a boy. What's odd is that even though the biting is an issue from time to time, he's very loveable and cuddly.
That's right, you're looking at the latest addition to our family, Sprout. I'm 11 weeks pregnant and sick as a dog! This pregnancy is so much different than the other two, I'm not sure it's a boy or a girl! I'm betting on a monkey. One thing's for sure though, it's only ONE!!! The baby's due in early Feb. and don't worry . . . . we'll keep you posted! (Pun totally intended.)