A Disney Thanksgiving

This past Thanksgiving, we took a magical Disneyland trip with my side of the family.  My parents have wanted to do this for a long time.  A dream come true for all of us.  The boys were thrilled to go to the "Happiest Place on Earth" with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents too.

 

 

We rented a home in Anaheim in a beautiful, historic neighborhood.  We spent Thanksgiving in California Adventure park, Friday at the house for a more traditional Thanksgiving dinner, Saturday in Disneyland, Sunday at church and then the long drive home.

I jotted down several of the little things from our trip that I wanted to remember.  Not so much the big things, but the little things that I noticed as we spent this weekend together.

The first day, cousins walking down the main walks, hand in hand, so happy to be together.

While in the baby center with my sister in law, the attendant asked us if we wanted her to draw a privacy curtain to nurse our babies.  I said, "We're sisters, so we are fine."  That word, "sisters" just rolled off my tongue so naturally.  In that instant, Eva was a sister, I didn't need to add that "-in-law" modifier.

All Mr. Four's adoring fans in line, as they smiled and interacted with my chubby cooing baby.

Watching our boys, as they walked through the parks and onto rides with different adult family members, one ride with Grammy, the next with an uncle or aunt.  It made being at the parks with four kids so easy, knowing that I had a herd of people watching out for my kiddos.

 

The look of utter excitement as my boys got to see Mater and Lightning McQueen driving down the road, so real to them.

 

Mr. Two was the only little one brave enough to ride the Tower of Terror.  He was quite scared, but he moved forward, eyes bugging out, and went on the ride.  After getting off, he emphatically told us he did NOT want to do that again, but as the days wore on, it became his badge of courage, and he would proudly say that he loved it.  He is our real thrill loving one.

My brother in law Scott photo-bombing our pictures.  Silly fun. (Look closely between the gas pumps.)

The Toy Story ride that everyone loved going on, especially with the awesome glasses.

 

 

The delicious bread bowls and soup from the Pacific Wharf Cafe and watching the World of Color at night.  Amazing!

The glee that the boys exhibited, getting on Star Tours as their very first Disneyland attraction.  They loved it.  We were so excited to get in with little waiting, we forgot to take pictures!  However, the boys loved the rockets and we did manage a few pics there, you can see Star Tours in the background.

Every once in a while, Mike and I would get to go on a ride alone.  No kids.  Oh how nice it was to hold hands and snuggle for a few moments, knowing our kids were happy and well-taken-care-of by family.

Eating at the Blue Bayou and felling like I was in a magical world (oh, and the amazing Monte Cristo sandwich).

The Haunted Mansion, decorated with a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme.  The two oldest boys were quite hesitant to go on this one, and at one point, the ride stopped.  Poor Mr. One was scared, begging to get out, but telling himself it wasn't real and holding it together pretty well.  Mr. Two was just staring, grinning at all the spectacle around him.  Mr. Three was smiling, waving and saying hello to all the ghosts in the graveyard.

The moment when timid Mr. One told me that he wanted to be brave too and ride Thunder Mountain Railroad.  As soon as it ended, he shouted, "That was AWESOME!"  So proud that he tried something new.

Hearing Dad express concern that Mom really wanted to go on the Matterhorn (she stayed with the kids while most of us rode).  I love that he was thinking of her, but I also think he secretly wanted to go again, with Mom alongside him (still so in love)!

Mr. Three's squeals of delight, arms raised the whole time, as he rode the Goofy roller coaster, or his uninhibited laughs and shouts to go faster on the the teacups, as he was plastered to the side of the cup, spinning away.

Screaming at the top of my lungs on the roller coasters, part out of terror and part just because it is so fun to scream.

Laughing and reminiscing about Disneyland trips from our childhoods.

The boys getting so excited to get a little Disney souvenir (Star Wars items of course). Oh, and the churros!

Contentedly dreaming boys at the end of two long but fun-filled days.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful, magical Thanksgiving that we will never forget!

Matchy Matchy

I think I may have a problem.

You may already know that I love my matching pj's at Christmas.

I cannot help myself.  I will keep this tradition up as long as I can get away with it.

Aren't the monster toes too adorable?

Well, apparently matching pj's is not enough.

I find myself unconsciously matching my little ones as I dress them in the morning.  I usually don't realize it until we are out the door.

Sometimes they dress themselves and choose matching outfits.

Then, more often than not, I end up matching the baby.  Matchy stripes!

Oh, then there was the piano recital where I played a duet with Mr. One.  Totally didn't realize that we matched until someone pointed it out.

I was guilty of matching my husband as we got ready to go out on a date, on more than one occasion.  Not on purpose.  Pinky swear.  Don't worry, one of us changed before going out totally matchy.

Maybe I'm taking this creating a united family a little too far.

Note to Self: Guard the Cupboards!

Note to Self:

Remember to be suspicious of a suddenly quiet two year old.  Unless you are sure he is napping, as there may be trouble in the works!

Mr. Four is loving his naps and his time in his new walker, so I have a free arm a bit more nowadays.  Earlier yesterday, I was having one of those "wow, I am getting lots done today" moments.  I had Mr. Two and Mr. Three help me clean out the fridge (they actually like this chore) and empty the dishwasher.  After a quick dash to pick up Mr. One from school (it was a half day), we were back to work.  I was finally making a dent in the piles that have accumulated around my house as a result of too much sewing and various Halloween activities.  I was feeling really good, so I decided to make homemade rolls and soup.  (Never mind that it is still about 90 degrees outside here still.  It is fall and I wanted to make soup!)

I had Mr. Three in the kitchen with me as I mixed up the bread seasoning for our cheesy rolls.  A spoonful of garlic powder, a dash of basil, a cup of Parmesan cheese...  I popped it in the fridge and left the rising dough on the kitchen counter to tackle the next project:  the laundry.

As I was folding and sorting away, with my little Mr.'s happily playing together, it got really quiet.  I should have been leery of this change in noise level.

After a while, I decided to check in on the boys.  Mr. One and Mr. Two were building Lego Heroes, Mr. Four was still dozing in his crib, and Mr. Three was happily playing in the kitchen.

Wait, Mr. Three is in the kitchen.
With a step stool.
In the spice cupboard.
And it smells kinda funny in there.  Sort of aromatic, and not in a good way...

Well, Mr. Three, being the curious and smart toddler that he is, decided to make his own spice blend in the kitchen.  I will share his recipe, just in case you want to pin it.

Mr. Three's Secret Spice Blend

1 entire jar of ground Cumin

1/2 jar of marjoram

1/2 bottle of oregano

a good helping of chipotle chili powder

a pinch of rubbed sage and basil

whatever else floats your boat

Mix with a clean spoon in a dirty Tupperware container, then sprinkle amongst the family's water cups and counter for good measure.

In all honesty, I was equal parts stunned, angry and amused, so I think he got off pretty lightly with a stern talking-to from a mommy who was stifling a laugh.

I called Mike to tell him about the mess, and to question why it is that our children only go for ruining the more expensive spices.  I declared that Mr. Three is a new kind of two year old.  The other boys didn't do things like this.

Then Mike reminded me of the time Mr. One dumped an entire bottle of powdered ginger in the living room rug.

And the time when I chased Mr. Two around the house, as he giggled and screamed with delight, while he poured a large bottle of baby powder all over the house.

Or the time that the boys decided to play in a newly opened bag of flour...

So this is not a new thing.  I thought I would be more savvy these types of antics by now.

It's a good thing Mr. Four can't reach the cupboards with the "fun stuff" in them.  Yet.

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...

Halloween Odds and Ends

Between the costume sewing, baking, helping with my sister's wedding, and general busyness of life, I have not posted much since, well, since Mr. Four was born.  I have tried to do some fun Halloween and fall activities with my little Mr.'s, and I've even managed to sneak in a few crafts of my own.  Here's a brief rundown of some of them.

I love the way my yarn wreath turned out.  I wasn't sure if it would end up a success or a huge craft fail, but I love the colors and the clean look of it.  Now I want to do more for other seasons.

My boys had a great time making these spiders.  They are just the right touch of bright and mildly creepy for our decor.

We made candy corn sugar cookies.  Mr. One and his friend cut the triangles, and sprinkled the cookies.  It was a fun treat to do together.  The tutorial is from Our Best Bites, using their sugar cookie dough with almond extract.  They were very yummy!

I made up this simple sensory tub activity for the boys, found here.  They had lots of fun searching for the ghosts and shouting, "Boo!  I found you!"

I can't wait for tomorrow's fun and trick or treating!  Luckily the force was with me in making our family's costumes this year (wink).  Pictures here in a few days. 

Dinos on the Brain

 

I had quite a bit of peanut butter cookie dough left after the kiss cookie incident, so I decided to do something fun with the kids in order to use it.  I let them take some clean plastic dinos and make footprints in the cookies. 

 

They loved it.

They turned out great, although I would probably use a peanut butter cookie dough that was meant to be baked and eaten without the kisses, as this dough is much better paired with some chocolate.  My little dinosaurs loved them just the same though. 

The boys had a great time playing with my container of dinosaurs, making them roar and stomp around the house.

They had so much fun playing with the dinos, I started looking up some other dinosaur-themed activities for my boys to enjoy.

I found these great dino preschool pack from 3Dinosaurs and kindergarten pack from Royal Baloo.

We have had lots of fun excavating plastic dinosaurs from eggs in the past.  My kids love smashing the soil eggs with a hammer to find the dinosaur inside.  Luckily, we have done this activity at story time and at a museum activity, so I haven't had to make them myself.  However, here is a link for how to make your own.

*These are all great ideas, but, to be honest, we didn't really do any of these additional activities.  Ideas saved for another time!*

We did do some dino reading, because you can never read enough good books. :)

Here are some of my favorite dinosaur books:

We have two dinosaur books by Aliki, Dinosaur Bones and Digging up Dinosaurs.  Both non-fiction books contain information on dinosaur history, how they were discovered, how scientists find and put together the skeletons we see in museums, etc.  Both use easy to understand wording and illustrations to help children better understand the science of dinosaur fossils.

Dinosaur Time by Peggy Parish is an older early reader.  Although some of the science of the dinosaurs in the book may be outdated, it is a great easy to read book for the dino loving child. 

Dinosaur Roar by Paul and Henrietta Stickland is a toddler favorite at our house.  It is a rhyming book of dino opposites.  With simple text and cartoon-ish dinosaurs, my two year old especially likes this one.

The How Do Dinosaurs... series by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague are also favorites at our house.  They feature great detailed dinosaur illustrations, who behave (or often misbehave) like some of the children that may or may not be in your own home or neighborhood...  Humorous and warm, with simple rhyming text.

Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff was a personal favorite of Mike's and one I remember reading as a young child as well.  A dinosaur lives in a museum until one day, he wakes up and goes on an adventure with a young boy, Danny.  What little boy (or girl) hasn't imagined what it would be like to have their own dinosaur adventure?  Another easy to read book with an inventive story.

I have a feeling we will be having more dinosaur fun in the future, but for now, we are immersed Halloween activities.  More on that to come...

Peanut Butter Kisses

We spent Labor Day weekend in New Mexico with my brother's family and my aunt's family for my sweet niece's blessing.  It was a nice, lazy weekend full of family and food (I know this is a theme with my side of the family) and a trip to the breathtaking Canyon de Shelly. 

For our Sunday picnic, I decided to make cookies to share.  Late Friday night (we left Saturday morning), I began mixing cookie dough, in between the laundry and cleaning and packing.  Mr. Three, as usual, was wide awake and wanting to assist in all the tasks at hand.  Oh how I wish that kid would learn to sleep at normal child times...

In order to keep his little hands busy, and out of a bit of desperation on my part to get things done, I thought to have him help unwrap Hershey's Kisses for the cookies.  As I mixed the peanut butter and sugar, eggs and baking soda, he unwrapped.  I was making good progress with the dough, and Mr. Three was happily at work.  I had him on a chair right next to me, so I felt I was supervising him adeaquately.  Mike was in the other room working on packing.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the bowl of kisses getting larger.

"Good,"  I thought, "he's not eating all of them."

As the dough came together and my attention turned towards forming the cookies and adding the kisses, I noticed Mr. Three spitting into the garbage can, and I could see a kiss or two entering his mouth.  Then, I started to pay more attention to my little helper.

He had bit the tip off of his kiss and put the rest of it into the bowl.  "That's kind of funny.  Well, there goes one kiss," I thought.

Then I took a closer look into the bowl.

Every. Single. Hershey's Kiss had little tooth marks and no tip.

In his defense, I did tell him not to eat all of the chocolates.  And he didn't eat all of them.

Call it two year old quality control.

Needless to say, we weren't able to bring a whole batch of kiss cookies with us to New Mexico.  Luckily, there were lots of other sweet treats to share.

Now Mr. Three has his own bag of "special chocolates" that he will be eating from for a long time.

Good thing he's so kissably sweet himself and I can't get mad at this face for too long...

Kiss, kiss!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
2 Tablespoons milk
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
48 chocolate kisses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream sugars, vanilla, shortening, peanut butter, egg and milk.  Add dry ingredients and mix well. Shape into small balls and roll in sugar.  Place on cookie sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes, until slightly brown.  Place a kiss immediately in the center of each cookie after taking out of the oven.

Give someone you love a kiss or two today!