Halloween 2013

The Mr.'s decided to go with a theme again this year for Halloween costumes.  I was all too happy to oblige.  You know I can't resist matching people...

I was also a bit relieved that they wanted to do something other than Star Wars.  This year, it was all about the ninjas, Lego Ninjago Ninjas, to be exact.

I drafted the patterns for their costumes using their jeans and a Sunday shirt as my pattern starters, and I have to say, they turned out pretty nice.  I used this tutorial for the pants, and just figured out the wrap top on my own.  I also made the shoulder armor and pinned them to the shirts so that the rest of the costume could be thrown in the wash.  Want to know the trick for the cool head covers?  All I did was buy a matching t shirt from the craft store and sewed the crest on the inside back of the tee, then you tie it on like this (scroll down the post for the picture how-to).  Super easy!  Thanks to our Kalanui cousins for tipping us off to this easy ninja mask trick a few years ago.

It was really hard to get a good pic of all of the boys standing together, they all wanted to pose with their sweet ninja moves and some of them just wanted to go dig in the dirt.  I think I got a few good shots, though.

 Who knew measuring spoons and squirt guns were ninja weapons of choice?

The Sunday before Halloween, we had our traditional spooky Halloween dinner with my family. 

On the menu was pepperoni-fried mushrooms (not Halloweenish, but the mushroom lovers were so happy), monster fingers (chicken strips), ghost mashed potatoes, brie and crackers (the knife added a little Halloween element), red jello with candy eyes, veggies and dip in a jack-o-lantern bell pepper, and pumpkin cookies and eyeball pudding (tapioca) for dessert.  We had to have our kool-aid in our dry ice-filled cauldron as well.  I love themed holiday dinners.  It is a fun tradition that I hope we never stop doing.

On Halloween night, we went trick or treating with my brother's three kiddos.  It was akin to herding cats to keep them together, let alone get them to stand still and look at the camera for a picture!  I think the action shot is quite fun, though.  It captures the real moment, you know, with two of them play fighting, one on the floor, one trying to run away...  We met up with all the family in town for pizza and candy, then down a few streets in my parents' neighborhood to trick or treat.  They had a blast.

Mr. Four was happy to join in, as long as it involved having a sucker in his mouth for the festivities.  Who can say no to that face?  I don't even want to think about how many suckers he ate that night...

 

Just for fun, here are two art projects that Mr. Two made in school that I thought would be easy to make at home, too.  The mummy is made with masking tape.  Why didn't I think of that?!  So clever.

It was another memory-and-candy-filled Halloween.  Now, on to Thanksgiving trimmings, gratitude and some fun fall projects to finish up!

May the Forth Be With You...

In case you were wondering, today is Star Wars day.  

You know, May the Fourth be with you...

We have plans, oh yes, we have plans.  

My two oldest are plotting big things, and when we asked them what they wanted to do, they just said to wait and see how it unfolds.  

Oh boy!  

If you need a little crafty inspiration, check out my Star Wars Pinterest board.  (I can't believe I even have this...)  

Here's a little teaser of what we may be using on this most exciting day.

Oh, and on an unrelated note, strawberries, whipped cream and overnight french toast is an awesome breakfast!  

 

 

My favorite recipe for Creme Brulee French toast here or a lighter version, which is still good, Carmel French Toast here.

The Force is Strong With This One... Mr. Three Turns Three

Mr. Three has taken to a mild obsession with Star Wars along with his older brothers.  On any given day, he is Yoda, or Luke Skywalker, or Darth Vader, or a Storm Trooper, or Chewbacca...  He is often found gripping his light saber pen as we drive around town running errands.  His Star Wars figures are left in various places around the house as evidence that he has been occupying that particular space.  Darth Vader, Luke, and an occasional Batman are regulars at the breakfast table.

We have seen this Darth Vader video so many times, I have lost count.  So it just made sense to feed the Star Wars fascination for his birthday.  Right?

When asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he told me he wanted cake pops.  Nice try Mr. Three, but not going to happen!  On second thought, he decided on pizza and a chocolate cake with white frosting and chocolate sprinkles.  So off to Grandpa's and Grammy's house for pizza on the grill and a chocolate Oreo-studded cake we went.

He received lots of Star Wars gifts and he was a very, very happy little boy!   Love the pizza sauce smudges on those cheeks.

 Look!  The Millenium Falcon, Mommy!  Two Han Solos, several droids, a few bad guys and a speeder bike or two later, and we enjoyed a piece of cake (after peeling all the boys off of the loot).

With all of the excitement and attention on Mr. One and Mr. Four during the weekend, I think Mr. Three just enjoyed being the center of attention for his special day.  We were all glad to give him a little extra love, too.  How can anyone resist those big eyes and adorable chubby cheeks?!  I love this sweet boy!

Mr. Four Turns One

 
We had lots of family in town for Mr. One's baptism, so we opted to celebrate Mr. Four's first birthday on Easter, just a few days before his actual birthday. 

He didn't mind having a little extra attention for a few days.  He liked the ribbons and wrapping paper just as much as the gifts themselves.  He especially loved the presents that made noise, dancing to the music that some of them made.  He can really rock!

 

Mr. One really dug into his first cake, literally, but Mr. Two and Mr. Three wouldn't even touch their's.  We had high hopes for our food-loving Mr. Four.  And baby didn't disappoint! 

He dug right in and started picking off the M&M's from the top, then kind of lost interest. 

Funny enough, he got a knee in the cake, then realized how much fun squishing cake was, and got a fist- and foot-full of chocolate.  That was fun, but starting to get messy, so we had to put an end to the cake-stomping fun and put the birthday boy in the tub.

After a bit of cleaning up, we enjoyed some Easter cheesecake and chocolate pie with everyone before our out of town family had to hit the road. 

 

 

We saved a few gifts for him to open on his actual birthday.  I couldn't resist the piano and few more good books!

What a fun celebration!  I am in love with our happy, rosy-cheeked cherub.  What a perfect addition to our family he is! 

Mr. One Turns Eight

Mr. One turned eight earlier in March, and on Saturday, he chose to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I still can't believe I have an eight year old already.  How the time flies!

We knew that his baptism, especially being on Easter weekend, would be a big event, so we opted to let the focus be on this special ordinance, and we had a simple birthday party for him with family.  No friend party this year.  His birthday fell on a Saturday, so we had a fun, relaxed day together to celebrate.  The morning began with french toast and a late morning soccer practice.  After soccer, it was time for lunch.  Because this was a special birthday, we offered to take the whole family to a restarant of his choice for lunch.  He chose Ned's Crazy Subs.  So, off to Ned's we went!

After lunch, the boys played Lego Star Wars on the wii together for a while.  He opened some presents and we let him build some of his Lego sets (notice the Star Wars theme is still going strong at our house?).

That evening, we went over to my parents' house (they have a big tv and surround sound) for dinner and a movie.  Some of the aunts and uncles came over for the fun as well.  We ate pizza as we watched "Return of the Jedi."  I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of the day for all the boys!  They loved every minute of it.  I have to admit, I actually enjoyed watching too!

The next evening, we had a family dinner to celebrate and Mr. One picked the menu:  salad, french bread, spinach ravioli, and cake.  He requested the "chocolate cake with chocolate shingles."  Grammy, being a chocolate lover herself was happy to buy the decadent chocolate cake.  Yum!  If there was ever a doubt of who this cute boy's momma is, just look at his birthday menu.  Pretty much all my favorite foods, too.

My little sis Jenny made this amazing lego blanket for him.  I am so amazed with her talent.  He loved it!

Mr. One was baptized on Saturday, one day before Easter.  It was the perfect way to celebrate the true meaning of Easter:  to see him follow in the footsteps of the Savior and choose to become a member of His church, to be washed clean and spiritually reborn, to be baptized and confirmed by his father.  It was beautiful.

It was wonderful to have a full room of family and friends supporting him.  We had several out of town family members make the trip here, which was so special.  He even bore his testimony afterwards, so heartfelt and honest.  It was a treasured moment.

After the baptism, we had a luncheon at my parents' home (they have lots of space and are happy to let us entertain there).  Lots of yummy food and extra play time with cousins for the kids.  At the request of several family members, here is the menu and a few of the recipes we enjoyed that day.

Baptism Luncheon Menu

sub sandwiches

Mom's famous potato salad (eventually I'll post this one)

anitpasti pasta salad (recipe here)

veggies 

fruit salad (recipe here)

chips and dips

gingersnaps (recipe here)

no-bake cookies

caramel oat bars  (see below)

cake pops (recipe here although I used a yellow cake and chocolate frosting)  

(Mr. One's only request for the luncheon was cake pops and I was happy to oblige.)

Here is the caramel oat bar recipe:

Caramel Bars (made famous in our family by my Aunt Shelly)
2 cups flour
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream

Mix together ingredients with a spoon and pat into a 9x13 greased pan, reserving 1 cup of mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Melt 1 bag Kraft caramels with 3/4 cup whipping cream.  Stir until smooth, then pour over baked mixture.  Crumble the reserved 1 cup mixture on top of the caramel layer.
Bake again for 15 minutes.
Try not to eat the whole pan all by yourself. ;)

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!

We had another fun day celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday this year.  As an added bonus, it was on a Saturday, so everyone was home to enjoy it together.

We had our traditional green eggs and ham for dinner.  (Well, green eggs and bacon, close enough :))  Mr. Two was hesitant to "try them, try them and you may" but found that he did like green eggs and (bacon)ham.

Mr. One does not like green eggs and ham, he does not like them Sam-I-am.  But give him toast, he likes that most.

Mr. Four loves green eggs, well, to play with at least.  Eating? Not so sure...

Mr. Three said no to the green eggs, but loves the (bacon)ham.  Yum!

We also had some strawberry-banana Cat in the Hat skewers.  Those were a big hit with all the boys.

Mr. Two is crazy about his fruit kabob!  He and Mr. One assembled them for our family dinner, cutting bananas and threading the fruit on the sticks.  A fun way to sneak in some pattern practice, too.

Mr. Three loves his fruit!  Chomp, chomp!

We couldn't have a Dr. Seuss dinner without a fun dessert, so some sweet eggs and ham were on the menu.  Now these were green eggs that everyone was willing to try!  (Made with a pretzel under a candy melt, melted in the microwave and topped with a green M&M.)

The boys liked hearing a few favorite stories, Green Eggs and Ham (of course) and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, to name a few.   We also played a new game together: this cute fishing game found here.  I had a few more Seuss crafts and activities planned, but the boys were happy playing on Seussville and so I have them all pinned and partially prepped for next year.

Valentine's Day 2013

Here's a little recap of our Valentine's Day.

I attempted to convince my two oldest boys to make Valentines this year, enticing them with clever cards I have collected (thank you Pinterest). 

Mr. One was unconvinced that this was a good idea.  He had his heart set on Star Wars Lego Valentines, so off to Target we went.  He was all too excited to get started selecting and addressing them.  I didn't have to help him at all, he was so happy.

The only trouble with Mr. One's cards was that Mr. Three was really enamored with them.  He kept sneaking them out, clutching them to his little chest, pointing out all the characters.  He also tried to convince me they were for him, pointing out the letter in the beginning of his name on the box as some sort of marker that they were actually his.  I had to go and buy an extra box later so he could have some, too.

Mr. Two, my artsy little man, was eager to craft, and saw these robot cards and wanted to make them.  We changed it up a bit with supplies on hand (colored hole reinforcers halved for hands and feet, curling ribbon limbs and simplified bodies), but I think our version turned out quite cute.  I especially love the hand drawn smiles.  It was a lot of work, and we had to assemble them over several days (five year old boys don't have the longest of attention spans), but he was so excited to give them to his preschool friends.  After all that work, I was frankly happy Mr. One wanted to go the store-bought route!

I had grand ideas of making my own Star Wars-themed cards for my boys, but time ran out.  Love this.  I also found a funny poem (thanks Jenny!) "R4 is red, R2 is blue, if I were the force, I'd be with YOU!" I may try and do something and just surprise them with a love note later... 

Mr. One also had to create a Valentine carrier to take to school, so we came up with a giant Lego brick box.  Mike measured and cut, and problem-solved to turn the idea into reality.  Mr. One glued and colored.  I even found a Lego font that he created his name with, and that was a really fun touch.  It was a team effort, and I think it turned out great.  He loved it.

We did have our traditional "heart day" fancy dinner with the family.  I spread a real tablecloth and decorated with candlesticks, heart doilies and foam hearts, using the nice(r) dishes.  I made pizza nuggets, roughly shaped into a heart, red jello, salad, and an extra rich strawberry-studded chocolate torte (think giant chocolate strawberry cake pop).  We turned out the lights, played some "love"ly music, lit the candles and ate together.  It was so much fun, and my boys were so well behaved.  I think I may break out the fancy dinner items more often!  Anything to avoid the typical weird noises, wandering around the dining room with a forkful of food, and random silliness...

It was a good day for showing our family how much we love one another.  I will use any excuse for extra love at home.

Halloween 2012

Here are snapshots of our Halloween this year.

 Mr. One and Mr. Two are very much obsessed with Star Wars right now.  I attempted to get them excited about a different theme this year, but Mr. One was adamant about wanting to be Luke Skywalker.  I was not too thrilled with this idea, especially considering that my children had not even seen the movies.  Then the idea started to grow on me.  I found several tutorials online and lots of images through Google image searches (thank you internet!), found lots of materials at thrift stores and on sale at fabric stores, and got really excited about the whole project.  After a few weeks of wading through yards of polyester and jersey knit sheets, we had a Star Wars family!

 May the force be with you!  In case you couldn't tell, Mike is Han Solo, I am Princess Leia, Mr. One is Luke Skywalker, Mr. Two is Obi-Wan (Ben) Kenobi, Mr. Three is the cutest Yoda I've ever seen, and Mr. Four is R2-D2.

Here is another close up of R2.  Mike hand stenciled and painted his onsie and hat.  Oh yeah, I am super lucky to have a creative husband!

Here's Mike's sketch and the carved pumpkin.

Darth Pumpkin was quite the scary site on Halloween.  Again, Mike is our talented pumpkin carver. He loves doing this each year, which is good, because I really dislike carving pumpkins, but the kids love it. 

While I was at Time Out for Women this Saturday with my Mom, Aunt and sisters, they also worked on Sharkie and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown".  Mike even roasted some sweet and savory pumpkin seeds.  Aren't the teeth so fantastic?!

After all the women came back from Time Out, we watched Star Wars episode IV at my parent's house on their big flat screen TV with surround sound.  The boys were totally mesmerized and loved it all.  Mr. Three kept shouting out our names when the characters we dressed as came on screen.  Thank goodness he wasn't disappointed that Yoda didn't make it into the first movie.  Now I am going to hear about Star Wars non-stop for a while now...