It's In His Blood

Last year Brady carved a horse (our mascot - Stenstrom Stallions) on a pumpkin and took it to the kid's elementary school. The secretary absolutely loved it and it stayed on the front counter until school got out in MAY! Then she reluctlantly threw out out. I can't believe it lasted that long. This year, she couldn't wait for October to get here and she put in a special request for TWO pumpkins - one for the school (the horse) and one she could take home with butterflies on it - her favorite.

If you're wondering where Brady gets all this pumpkin-carving talent, it's in his blood I tell you. Read all about it here: (I couldn't get it to hyperlink so you may have to copy and paste.) http://activepaper.olivesoftware.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=U1NFLzIwMDgvMTAvMjQjQXIwMTMwOA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Here are two pumpkins carved by Brady's brother Sheldon with Grandma Beverly and Grandpa Chester's faces - the founders of the Great Pumpkin Walk. What a great story, huh?

Halloween Preview

Last night was our ward trunk-or-treat party. We had a great time but sorely missed our dad who was teaching institute at another church building. BUT, he did carve us a winning pumpkin before we all headed off in separate directions. Here he is working away on it.

And now...drum roll please!

I give you President Monson on a pumpkin. Doesn't it look great? But, as my friend said, "You tell Brady just because he carved President Monson's face on a pumpkin that doesn't mean he gets a free ticket into the Celestial Kingdom!" Darn. At least we got this cool certificate and these yummy dipped pretzels!

As if carving the prophet on a pumpkin weren't enough, we also decorated the back of the minivan! Here are the cheesecloth ghosts I made to hang. They were quite cute, I think Tucker liked them the most and I loved it when he said, "Oh...those are so cute!" in this sweet little voice.

Brady also made this cool cauldron to stand in the back of the van. Where would I be without an artsy husband???Here's how the van looked:

so much fun!

Back to the Beach

Last week Brady had to work on Melbourne and since the kids were out of school on Friday, we all decided to tag along. We stayed in the same exact hotel that we stayed in last year (see this post). And funny thing...the weather was exactly the same too - overcast, drizzly, windy, and not too pretty. Good thing our kids are still entertained by watching too much TV, eating too much popcorn and jumping on hotel beds. It was perfect. We watched Hannah Montana and High School Musical 2 together and laughed and laughed. I took them swimming Thursday night and Brady took them Friday morning so that I could work on my talk for Stake Conference. Can you believe it??? I had to talk at the adult session and all I can say is "Whew! It's over!"

View from the balcony

Love this Ron Jon surf shop

According to Wikipedia, this Ron Jon is the largest surf shop in the world! I believe it.

Dinner By Courtney

For a Faith in God requirement, Courtney was to plan and prepare a nutritious meal for her family. I love those kind of goals, especially when the kids REALLY do them from grocery shopping to cleanup. We had a great time cooking together, her doing most of the work and me supervising. She found the recipes she wanted to make in a fun kid's cookbook my mom sent us once upon a time (it's come in handy many times, mom!). We had:

Fruit Salad

Carrots with dip and pizza roll ups
These "ice cream" cupcake cones were a hit!

The proud chef. Yummy dinner, Courtney!

My Little Chef

On Sunday the kids were all upstairs having "quiet time" (which isn't always so quiet) when Spencer came down to tattle. When he saw that I was cooking, he forgot all about what he was going to tell me and instead said, "Oooh! Can I help you cook?" So, I gave the boy a pair of tongs and put him to work. He loves to cook. Here he is putting taking the raw chicken pieces, dipping them in butter, then rolling them in a mixture of crushed corn flakes, dry italian dressing mix and parmesan cheese. Mmmm, it's delicious and one of our family's favorites.

Then he helped me roll out crescent rolls - so fun rolling up these triangles into these funky shapes! Emeril Lagasse - move over!

Happy Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday to sister-in-law Joanna who celebrated her special day on Saturday...

Can you believe how old this picture is Joanna? We've got to get together again!

and to Denise who turns, what...39??? 40??? today! (just kidding, she's only 29!!) How the heck old are you anyway? Younger than me, that's all I know!

Hope you BOTH had great birthdays this weekend!

Haircut

I took Courtney to get her hair cut on Monday. She said she wanted bangs...Whoa. She hasn't had bangs since she was about five, but she really wanted them, so here she is! Now I call her Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (I don't even think she knows what that is from!). I think she looks darling and she loves it so that's what counts!

Dad's Project

Spencer's class was building a model of a city and Spencer was assigned to bring in the Home Depot. You can tell that this assignment was passed along to Dad to help with because it turned out all fancy schmancy. Mine would have been an orange box, maybe with a Home Depot sign. No stripe around the top, no "garden entrance" and "lumber entrance." So thanks, Dad, for helping with this homework project!

Nursery Rhyme Parade

Today was the Kindergarten Nursery Rhyme Parade. Jordan had decided he wanted to be a little mouse that ran up the clock (you know, Hickory Dickory Dock). So I told him I would make him a grey hat with little ears, etc. and he told me that the mouse was WHITE. Okay, so I made him a little WHITE hat with ears and the rest of the costume was pretty easy - white shirt and white pants (thank goodness for those white karate pants I picked up at a yard sale last year). This morning I decided to make a little sign to hang around Jordan's neck with a picture of a clock tower (Big Ben, in fact) and "Hickory Dickory Dock" printed under it. Somehow I just knew Jordan was going to refuse to wear it, and I was right. He's got a few quirks, that kid, and for whatever reason, he just wasn't going to wear something around his neck. Then one of the kids suggested he could wear sunglasses and turn his mouse from running up a clock to being "blind." That was good for him. So, here he is in all his blind glory.

And now, a video clip:

Halloween Spooktacular

Last weekend we went to Sea World's "Halloween Spooktacular." The kids were able to trick-or-treat around the park and got themselves a nice little bag full of candy. Meghann was afraid she would get her gorgeous princess costume dirty so she opted not to dress up.

Just look at Jordan all decked out in his "Indy" costume! He began counting how many times people made the comment "There's Indiana Jones" or "Look at Indiana!" One man giving out candy even called him, "Mr. Jones" and that made his day! I think he counted somewhere around 12 or 13 but he just beamed anytime someone called him "Indiana Jones." Did I write about that already? It seems like I have but maybe it was in Jordan's journal...I forget.

Here's my favorite part of his costume:

Indiana Jones - Florida style. You can discover buried treasure in flip flops...can't you?

More Halloween pictures later (with gushing about all the other kid's costumes too...I just worked so hard on that Indy costume and no one has worn theirs every day since I made it either...!)

Yikes! Tagged!

Rules: Thank the person who tagged you and mention these rules on your blog.

Tell 6 UNSPECTACULAR Quirks about yourself and tag 6 fellow bloggers.

Do I really have to thank my sister Denise for tagging me? Lest she think I'm a total loser for not responding, I'll give it my best shot.

1. I have a slight coupon obsession. Not necessarily at the grocery store, although I do use them when I have them, but I refuse to buy anything at JoAnn's or Michaels without a coupon. I print them off the internet at JoAnns and I'll use three or four or five at a time. I get so excited when I can buy something on clearance AND get an additional percent off or something like that. I do really love Publix's (grocery) BOGO sales...definitely obsessed there.

2. I know the best lane to be in at a stop light so you can hose the other drivers. There are a few intersections where you can really move up in the line because of some turn lanes that most drivers are going to move into. The other day Brady was taking me to JoAnn's (where else???) and he was laughing at all the times I told him "get in this lane!" I used to think I was so cool for knowing how to get everywhere faster than anyone else until last night.

I was going to Stake Leadership meeting and found myself at a stop light behind our stake YW president. A few stoplights later, I knew how to hose a bunch of cars and I got in the far lane while she stayed in the first. Sure enough, I didn't see her for miles. About two miles down the road I was thinking, "Hmmm...wonder where Cherilyn is." Then about two more miles down the road guess who was in FRONT of me? Cherilyn! Where did she come from? So, now I'm not so cool for knowing which lane to pick, but I still love to do it!

3. After I brush my teeth I must put on my Natural Ice chapstick. It's the ONLY chapstick I'll use and I can only find it online. If anyone sees it in the store, buy me 10 and I'll love you forever!

4. If I have to sit and watch the TV, I really need to be doing something. I'd much rather be cutting something out (say...a Halloween costume or paper stars for a stake FIG activity or even coupons!) Anything, just don't make me sit and watch TV without multi-tasking. Unless I'm just pooped or having a date movie with Brady...then I can do it.

5. I'm with Denise on this one...I hate shoes and socks. Tennis shoes rank right up there with girdles! Give me a pair of flip flops and I'm happy. That's why Florida is perfect for my feet (but not my heart!) (Denise, I dare you to wear THESE babies to church next week!)

6. Hmmm...if I say I'm obsessed with chocoalte that will be TWO of Denise's quirks that I'm copying and that's just too quirky. (We get the chocolate addiction from our dad BTW). So I'll say my last quirk is that I am becoming a talk radio junkie. I blame it all on Brady. He's an official junkie so when I drive with him we just sit and listen to whoever is talking to us on the radio. Sometimes we have a conversation (when a commercial is on). I listen to 580 AM anytime I'm in the car. First it's Neal Bortz talking about all the political bruhaha, then Jamie Dupree, I think he's more political blah blah but there's some guy in the afternoon that I like. He gives financial advice and consumer watch advice. I can't remember his name...see I'm becoming a junkie, I'm not officially there yet. I can't remember everyone's names yet.

So! There you have it...all of my quirks (or at least 6 that I'm willing to go public with). I tag anyone at all who wants to share yours with the rest of us. Don't be shy, it's painless, really.

Bring It On, Mother Nature

We are going to have a cold front this weekend! Hooray! Our high for Sunday is supposed to be a chilly 78 degrees. I'm going to break out my sweaters and maybe even my wooly socks. To celebrate the cold front, we're going to host a little neighborhood "movie outside" Saturday night. We're going to show an assortment of Halloween cartoons such as this classic:
I'm even going to serve some delicious hot wassil. If you're in the mood for something to warm you, try this recipe. And I'll warn you, it will warm you! We served it last night at our Stake Primary Leadership training and after a few sips, the Stake Primary Pres. and I were starting to sweat! So, make sure it's actually cold outside before you serve it. That sentence doesn't make a lot of sense if you consider the fact that our "cold" front of 78 isn't exactly anywhere near cold, but in Florida we have to celebrate every drop in the temperature.


Spiced Cider
8 cups apple juice (or cider...I used juice)
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches)
1/2 t. ground allspice
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
Additional cinnamon sticks, optional

In a large saucepan, combine the first six ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Discard connamon sticks. Use addtional sticks for sitrrers if desired. Yield: 8-10 servings. (It's easy to make this for large crowds as well. I quadrupled the recipe for leadership meeting and served about 30 but could have served about 50!) Enjoy!

Stuck

Get ready to laugh. This has happened long ago now that I can post it, but when Courtney first came down the stairs at 8:3o at night (after she had supposedly gone to bed) several weeks ago, the first thing she said was, "Mom, don't blog about this!" We can laugh (and blog) about it now and so can you (laugh, I mean).

So, here's the story. Brady and Meghann were at a fireside one Sunday night so that meant Courtney went to bed alone, which she doesn't like to do and which also means a little mischief occasionally. Well, not always mischief, just not going right to sleep, you know? So this night she got out of bed, decided to get her wet and then brush through it. Sounds innocent enough, but she just chose the way WRONG brush to be brushing wet hair with and before too long, she had completely, permanently tangled the brush in her hair. This is what she looked like when she came down the stairs crying. I tried everything to get it out. (The white gooey looking stuff is hair detangler - it didn't do a darn thing to make it budge.) Then I got the idea to somehow make the bristles super short so the hair could slide off of them because it wasn't going to become de-tangled with those long bristles that the hair had to go around. I started cutting all the bristles with siscors as short as I could get them (without cutting her hair...very tricky!) That didn't work either! Yikes! I was getting desperate.

My next idea, and the one that finally worked was to pull out every bristle with needle nose pliers. Why didn't I think of that in the first place??? Then the hair just slipped off round part of the brush without any problem at all. (you can see the pliers there in the left of the above picture) Oh, I've got to mention though that in the meantime Brady had come home and HE had the great idea to try to saw the brush in half. So in he comes from the garage with a hack saw and Courtney just about lost it. He didn't get anywhere near the brush with it. Wish I had a picture of that one!

So after the brush was free (and spending the rest of it's life in the garbage) I had to pick all those little bristle parts out of Courtney's hair and comb out all the tangles. I was surprised how much hair came out as I was combing through it. I think it just broke off or came out at the roots through all the trauma.

And, an hour later, I sent my daughter off to bed with a promise to never try to brush through wet hair after bedtime again!

"Life" Saver

Here's another old picture just waiting to be posted (I'm cleaning off my flash card...can you tell?) My dear friend Shelby was so kind to us when we came home from Utah this past August. She had dinner, breakfast, plus other miscellaneous groceries waiting for us when we got home. I especially thought this box of cereal (to go with the gallon of milk in the fridge) was a cute idea. I've filed it in the back of my brain under "things to pay forward."

Sand City

Here's something that should have been posted a long time ago. I think this was our Labor Day wekeend in St. Augustine with Aunt Kelly. We took our neighbor friend, Natalie. As soon as we got set up on the beach the beach patrol man drove up and announced to everyone that a big storm was coming and it would be best to pack up before it hit. A few people did, but most of us decided to wait and see. Lucky us, it blew right over and we didn't get rained out. Whew! The kids don't really build sand castles, but rather sand cities connected by moats and bridges.

Here's their handiwork this day.