Weekend Ketchup (Catch Up)

This week has been full.
The kids were exhibiting some cold symptoms, catching what I had, which meant they didn't go to school on Monday. That makes for a long day. Elliet was fine for the rest of the week, the twins improved faster than me, but the twins didn't have school Wed or Thurs and Elliet didn't have school on Friday. This really cut back on my time to get extra things done. So we made the best of it.
The weather was FABULOUS all week long. Nice days in the 80's. We swam and played outside a lot.
I think it's time to retire the summer swimming suits- as you can see, Sadie was having lots of fun with the "chest bubble" she could create with the outer layer of her suit.
On Thursday, the twins preschool had a day at the Pumpkin Patch. My camera battery went dead before I got a photo with pumpkins, but I did get them doing other unimportant fun stuff. Here they are swinging on the mechanical swings. They thought it was great fun until I walked away to the cooler to grab a water and they shouted "Mom! Don't Leave! Help me, Help me!!" So that was fun to be spotlighted in front of the other parents with screams of false distress...
Their favorite thing was this huge inflatable slide. It was SO funny because Luke would climb to the top and jump up so he would land about 1/3 the way down the slide and roll to the bottom. His arms and legs would be flailing all over. He would do it again and again. You can see his air in the picture.
Then we looked at the petting zoo.
Sadie was talking to the rabbits here and saying goodbye.
We rode the little train and they each picked a pumpkin. It was a fun morning. We hurried and ate lunch before we headed over to Elliets school for her Halloween parade.











This was a fun event. Mary Jane joined me experiencing this for the first time. The school had a bunch of teachers or volunteers doing a trunk or treat on the big playground area. Their cars were all around the edges and the kids would rotate through each post every few minutes. We brought folding chairs and watched everyone for a while. They had a radio van in the middle playing Halloween songs. There were some great costumes! Elliet was getting a little hot and tired, so she didn't do any fancy Mermaid poses here, but you can get a glimpse of her costume. We walked around and checked out some of the 'stations'. Luke and Sadie were mesmerized by the bubbles at this one. They just stood there and let them spurt at them. It was kind of funny.
I had to take a picture of this car. They wrapped it all in black plastic and cut out these slits where the masked person inside would peek out and distribute candy. It was such a cool/spooky idea..."Candy, if you dare" spray painted on the outside.
It was a great day of Halloween fun.
Next I'll post the rest of the weekend.

One Big Weird Circle

What goes around, comes around and this is proof.
While growing up, my parents were constantly remodeling our house. My Dad was Mr. Handy and they both always had funky ideas. I mean, we had neon lights in my house so, needless to say, a little 'out there'. It was really fun and they were very creative.
After ripping the drywall off of a wall on our back porch/dining room, they exposed this beautiful pinkish brick. I remember them liking it so much that they left it (Mom- am I remembering that correctly?). We had a desk/computer area against that wall and hanging from that wall was a large birdcage held with a hand just like this one. I can't remember where they got it- it was some old mannequin hand... probably discarded from some department store or something. Anyway, it was a fun conversation starter when friends would be over and see this white arm coming out of the wall, holding the birdies. Now you can buy these for $75. Who knew! Patch parents, you made our house a fun place to grow up in. Thanks.

Stupid Stuff

Not much has been going on around here. Now that our party is over, we have a little time to enjoy the remaining October days. I already feel the presence of Thanksgiving and Christmas, though. I am trying to resist the urge of jumping into that mindset and at least get through next Wednesday. So the past few days I have been catching up on things neglected. We had the kids rooms painted two weeks ago and I went through the closets and clothes. That always takes SO long. Took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. We will probably get pregnant soon since I have officially gotten rid of all our baby stuff. Now I need to start hanging shelves and get a few pieces of furniture. We painted Luke's room this cool dark grey charcoal color and Sadie's room is a deep pink/faded red. It's great! I remember seeing a wall that color in a Jcrew years ago. Didn't think I'd be able to have it in my house. Aw yeah.
We have had some crazy wind here the past few days. Today was calm and beautiful! This afternoon it was about 80 degrees by the time I picked up Elliet from school. As soon as we got home, we celebrated by having snow cones one last time. Then the kids did their usual routine and all removed their pants and followed the leader around the pool, marching in their underwear. Hey, man- It wasn't TV and keeps them happy, right?
Tonight I needed to sew Elliet's Halloween costume. Her school party/parade is on Thursday. I wasn't sure how long it would take...luckily I whipped it out toot sweet. She is going to be a mermaid so all I really had to do was make a skirt.
I was having fond memories of my Mom making my costumes as a kid. She was always so creative and did a great job. I felt so proud going to school in the stuff she would make. It's dorky, but I was happy to be doing this- it's fun being a Mom and finding joy in some of the daily-ness that we do. At least, until she tells me I did it wrong or something.
The other night we made Bulgogi. It's a great recipe I have used for years and thought to my silly self, "I should take a picture of all this juicy meat and show everyone how gluttonous we are!". So here it is- a pic of just the meat. Of course, no, we did NOT just eat meat. You add some fresh green beans sauteed with olive oil, S&P and some brown rice and voila- it's FAB-O.
If you don't know what Bulgogi is, try it out, folks. Your tongue will thank me later. VERBALLY.




I also wanted to show off my cool cake I made for the Halloween Party. But you know what? This is just how things go. It looks cool, right? But no one ate it! Well, before the party I caught Sadie and Luke scraping the bottom end apart, but that doesn't count. So oh well. It was fun to try something new. This is why I like events- they give me a reason to try new things (yes, friends are guinea pigs. Big kiss! Loves!). This was a test of the meringue bones I made earlier. I put them between the layers of cake, hoping that when you cut the 'grave', you would cut through crunchy bones and get all creeped out and Happy Halloween! But no, the meringue bones are delicate creatures- afraid of commitment to crunchiness and dissolve like white wimps between cake. I suppose chocolate frosting makes me wimpy, too- I can't judge. It was yummy though- the meringue inside the chocolate reminded me of Hostess cupcakes.
But hey- the fingers look dope, right? Plus I used Martha's seven minute frosting recipe. It always looks so great, but I swear- give it an hour exposed to air and it's like a rubber tomb. I am still on the hunt for a good, 'whipped' frosting that isn't buttercream. I want that airy, whip cream kind that is on the store cakes. You know the kind? It holds shape great but isn't all greasy? What is that magical substance and how can I know the secret to it's goodness!?

New Nephew!

Marty And Jessica brought home their new baby boy on Friday. They have named him Graham Richard Patch. Oh he is so cute. I love the grumpy sleep face.
Congratulations! I can't WAIT to hold him.

Halloween Party 2007

Last night was our Annual Bash.
I must begin first by saying how much I love our friends.
We have GREAT friends! A fun party can only be as fun as the people make it and our friends make it so fun every year.
The costumes and creativity are always hilarious. No small effort is made and that, believe it or not, really means a lot to me. So any of you reading this... Thank You! You make our Halloween so fun every year!
Scott and I were some random 70's tennis couple. We won the costume contest for the Coolest Costume- but we were a close second for the Creepiest. I am sure you can understand.

Everyone gradually came over and mingled while we ate all the yummy food that was brought (and another thanks to all who helped with that- sooooo good). I lured people away to take individual photos of each costume. Those will be posted on our party website so I'll get that updated soon. In the meantime, here are some of our winners.




Our Creepiest winners ended up being the Polygs. Nice work, guys- so funny. Of course, you do live very close together so.... what does that really mean?
Jenny told me they considered bringing a 12 year old girl as the next wife. Ewwwwww....







Steve and Jen won for most original. The Vet and the Dog. I am sure the truth behind this one is Jen had to come up with a clever way to justify the real leash. Good thinking!









Our Most Humorous was Hugh and his Playboy Bunny for the evening.
Charles looks dashing in fishnets. I thought he had real heels on at first.










Our Spartans did not disappoint. They had cheers and everything!
And Avey was a fabulous Wicked Witch. It was just like she popped out of Oz. She even had these great long black fingernails... I wish I had caught that in the photo.













Here we are all sitting down watching the movies. For those reading who are new to our Halloween tradition, every year we have a video contest. Near the end of the party we watch the films made within the theme for that year. This year our theme was do make a movie or TV trailer. The one we are watching in the image here was a scene from "The Office" that a group made together. Very funny! My goal in the next few days is to get those loaded here so you can see them. We also did one and Scott was the star (no surprise- thank goodness he doesn't mind making a fool of himself) and played MacGuyver. Just wait- it was good. Mullet and all....
It was such a fun night. Parties are swell! Happy Halloween everyone!

Could it be... SATAN?

I couldn't resist swiping this image from a friends blog.
So funny since it took me a second to recognize them.
Can you?
(If not, you need to go see your bishop)

Zoo Escape and more news

Luke is a meticulous player. It is not uncommon for me to find him mesmerized for 20-3o minutes occupying himself with something like stringing beads onto twine. These are good activities unless it's something like removing all the paper from the crayons. Yeah, have fun picking THAT up after being tracked all over the house...
But most of the time it is good and I enjoy stumbling upon the fruits of his labors. Case in point- Today he arranged his animals around the Thomas track we set up the other day. I thought it looked funny to see the chaos in the town. What would the passengers do seeing this from their cabin window?

Other fun news, my sister in law went into labor today. We will have another new baby boy in the family within hours! This is Marty and Jessica's first. I am so excited for them.



So lately I have been enjoying "fries" with the kids using pre-cut sweet potatoes. They have them in small bags at Trader Joes. Lately they have had HUGE bags of them at Costco. Lucky me! They are super yummy and good for yeh.
Put the amount you want in a large bowl, add some olive oil, kosher salt and Spike seasoning (Whole Foods). Mix to coat evenly. If you want a little more flava-flave, add some Lawry's seasoning salt. Spread on a cookie sheet lined with foil (hello?! easy clean up!) sprayed with cooking spray and broil about 10-15 minutes. Take out when golden brown, flip over what you can (some are stubborn so don't waste your time turning individual fries over... you have better things to do) and put back in for another 5 or so minutes, or until toasty.
Remove from oven and serve. I am no food photographer, but I hope this image gives you an idea of their tantalizing tastiness. Try some today for a better tomorrow! :)

And I know better, but I couldn't resist sharing a fun baking craft. I have wanted to try this for years and finally whipped out the meringue bones recipe from Martha. I say I know better because I am revealing part of my food contribution for our Halloween party on Friday. I should be saving it for the surprise but couldn't resist! Successes must be shared.
So- if you think I am just serving bones, think again. You'll have to wait and see. But I must say, they are trés cool all by themselves. I started to have fun making fingers and others things. Pretty groovy, yes?!

Holiday Ten

Knock Knock has done it again. This is a real book!
They are one of my favorite companies and always so clever.
If you want a good laugh, click here and read the details.

They also have some good ones on acquiring road rage and getting into debt.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD!

Today is my brothers Birthday. He is the youngest of the bunch and probably the youngest at heart, too. Can you tell?! Rich is such a great guy. He is one of my best friends. We are kindred spirits, he and I. Anytime I am home we will stay up late talking about all kinds of things. He is such a sensitive, feeling and wise person. Not to mention sooo so so funny. He has the best sense of humor (remember his want ad in the Lotoja post?) and is always having fun. He's also Mr. cool guy- doing way too much to his car or the boat, winning wake board competitions and being film production Ace.
We also share a great love for music and concerts, fashion, food, art and design, nature, athletics, ... you get the idea.
Oh yeah, and he is surprisingly still single. He's quite the catch, as you can see... so if you know of any worthy ladies in the UT Valley... :)
Rich, I love you! I hope you have a great Birthday!

Disneyland

A few days ago, Scott got a wild idea that we should just go to Disneyland. We have been waiting to go so our kids would be old enough to enjoy it and we would have energy enough to do it.
I was ready to give it a shot, so we booked the hotel.
I picked up Scott from work on Wednesday, we drove straight to LA, went to Disneyland on Thursday and then drove home Friday morning. It was a quick trip but surprisingly doable and it was SO MUCH FUN. Way more fun than I expected. I haven't been there since I was a young kid, so a lot of it was new for me. And experiencing everything with the kids made it one of the best days ever. We had a blast.
Upon entering the park, we headed straight for Cinderella's castle (Good advice, Emily!) and did all those rides first. The weather was perfect and after a couple of rides, I think the kids really started to have fun since they knew, now, what the day was going to be like.
Of course Elliet spotted the large Carousel in the center and immediately exclaimed that she wanted to ride the horses. She picked hers out particularly and grinned so big the whole time.






Then one of my faves, the teacups! The music is all quirky and flutey and spinning around and around makes it hard to control the giggles.
The first thing Scott said when we sat down was "Ok- no crazy spinning... just nice and easy..." but Elliet and I had another idea.
Then we spread all over the park. We never repeated a ride. The kids lasted really well walking all by them selves. It was fun checking out old memories.
I certainly remember 'Small World'. How can you not? They drill that song into your head over and over again. It's like a subliminal message from the government that you'll get called on a secret mission, hear that tune, and have a mental breakdown and destroy all things in sight.
But despite the relentless tune, I must say I quite enjoyed the whole 60's aesthetic that still remains. Cool designs and artwork inside as well as the outside. Sort of Alice in Wonderland, too.
As a Halloween freak, I have been told many times how great the Haunted Mansion is at this time of year. It did not disappoint. Loved the decorations and everything. I do need to go back and see it in it's normal form, since that was a ride I do remember well from my wee years.
The creativity they put into it all was amazing!
Scott took Elliet on a faster ride and she thought it was fun, so we decided to tackle the Matterhorn. Yes! Another old favorite as a kid, but I didn't think we could do it with our little ones. The crazy thing is this was the first time we encountered our outnumbered issue- only one or two riders per car. What were we going to do? We asked Elliet if she would ride by herself and she said she would. So I put her in the car in front of me and had Sadie in my lap. Then I realized that she was in the FRONT CAR of our whole train. I really started to worry now. I tried to talk fast and explain what was going to happen, that "it would be fast and a little crazy, but fun... here are the handles you hold on to, I'm right behind you!", etc. etc.... then it started. Oh man, I was nervous. And guess what?! She was great! She called out a couple of times and thought for sure I had damaged her, but by the end of the ride, she was like, "That was fun! It was a little spooky and scary but I was brave!". Does that invite a big hug, or what? I was so proud of her. She is such a big girl.
We ended up staying the entire day. Amazing the kids lasted that long, and even kept their good moods for most of it. We stayed long enough to see the parade at the end. The kids love that- kept shouting out the names of the princesses and other characters. Sadie's little waving hand was so cute! And a byproduct of living with girls is Luke being just as infatuated with the princesses as them. So he thought it was swell.
You'd think upon returning to the hotel that the kids would be wiped out. Not ours! We ate dinner and finally forced them to calm down by laying with us on the beds while Scott and I watched the Office. Then they were out cold in 5 minutes. It was a GREAT DAY!

OOOOooooh Happy Halloween!

Thought I would add a little more scenery to the festive blog for Halloween. I am trying to get my head into it some more so I can be motivated to make the costumes.
I went to the Halloween store today and bought a wig for Scott.
The music they play in those places can get me excited, and today it worked!

What is everyone dressing up as? And if you must keep it mum, then what are your kids?
Elliet and Sadie are going to be Mermaids (this was Elliets choice and she also dictated Sadie's choice). Luke doesn't care the least so he will be a pirate. They kind of go together, right? You can't make a cool pirate costume cheap these days with all the nifty stuff included with the ones you buy so I bought his. One down, four to go. The girls mermaid material is all folded neatly on my desk. I'll show you the WOP (work in progress- get familiar with that acronym- I will be using it a lot around here) and you can tell me if they really DO look like mermaids or rotten fish that need to be put out of their misery.

And another thing...

All I can say is wow. These are sweet.
They will only set you back about $300.
I may look like Captain Jack, but I am still tempted so.

Whatever you do, don't think "Marc Jacobs"

Watch out. Deep thoughts a brewin. This is my first provoking post!
I came across a study mentioned in an article the other day....
Pause- doesn't that sound so unlike me? I mean, that could be construed to imply it was whilst reading my daily Wall Street as I sipped on organic herbal tea and whole grain crumpets. Ha! That is ridiculous... I do that with soy steamers.... sheesh... herbal tea.....(teehee)-
As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself:
A psychology study found that those who exercise mental self-restraint, such as when dieting, are more likely to make impulse purchases.
Participants in the study were instructed to write down their thoughts, with some told to avoid thinking about a white bear.
Then, they all received the same amount of money to spend in a store. Those who were asked to control their thoughts spent more than three times as much than the uncontrolled group. The study authors theorize that self-control is a limited resource, and that it can be depleted by great efforts of willpower, such as starting a new diet.
So, this is me. I have been trying to identify this gene in my personality for years and now it's a proven behavior! Once I try to discipline myself with rules of restriction, I have a much harder time trying to stay in the 'contained area'. I try to be wise and make good choices on my own and use that behavior to represent ME.
It's an interesting thought process: If I decide to eat more veggies for good reasons, then I am better at doing it. If I decide to do out of guilt then watch out Betty Crocker because I am about to make some super-fattening oatmeal cookie dough...
Not to say that discipline is a bad thing. It is a wonderful thing- it's the difference between true artwork and a big grey canvas. But don't you want your masterpiece to be a window to who you are? Not limited to what is expected of you?
So I guess the next challenge is to examine the true reason that drives us to do things.
I, personally, am driven to work out so I can eat the whole batch of cookie dough. That counts, right?! :)

Getting Stoned

Wow. What a week.
As the home construction site was winding to a close, I fit in a fun lunch with my "in-law" family (and if you get to Cheesecake Factory in the near future, don't get the Pumpkin Cheesecake.... your hips will never forgive you and your tongue will never forget the taste- glorious!) and also took advantage of the no-school on Friday, snagged my babysitter and went to check out the new H&M that just opened with some friends.
I know, it sounds like the good life. But let me say, it was a much needed mental escape. I don't know why some weeks are like that but I really needed that distraction.
Anyway, here was the wall with the shelf that my Father in law helped me hang. He was a major trooper. That thing is HEAVY but thanks to us it's not going anywhere. The construction resulted in snowing the entire floor with that really fabulous micro-dust all over the house so you know what Scott and I did this afternoon. Mopped. A lot.
The chairs I finally ordered arrived. Here they sat. All obedient awaiting their post in the other room. Good Eames. I am still a little sad the Bertoia's weren't comfy because they would have looked marvy. Oh well.







And since I had to wait until I could actually set up the room, we made cardboard box tunnels instead!
They were awesome. It was very long and had three exits, as well as sneaky side openings. Don't you love how this stuff can occupy your kids forever!?


Well here is the room, finally finished. I LOVE it. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I have wanted a bleached stacked stone wall like this for a long time. It really ties everything together.
From this afternoon to tonight while I am writing this post, I have covered the place with Halloween decorations. I can't believe in three weeks I'll be taking it all back down again. It's sort of making me drag my feet a bit. I know! Blaspheme!

Thou Shalt Not...Envy

...but when I came out of Albertson's tonight with my modest milk and egg purchase, I stopped in my tracks at the sight of this.
I thought it was a G Wagon.
No.
New name I was unfamiliar with.
Brabus.
I immediately called my brother, sent him this pic and asked him about it. He's the car junky in the family.
He just laughed and told me to keep walking. Look away. Forget all about it. He read me some car jargon but I don't read "Car & Driver" so it didn't make a lot of sense to me... all I know is that it's basically a 'Bond' level car. Yeah, that's me. Let me just swing over to the school, pop my kids in the back, run to the craft store and do all that "secret agent" daily stuff that I do to justify my insane overly-upgraded awesome car.
*sigh*
I mean, are you kidding me?! White?! I so love it.

So I have officially started to spread some haunting cheer around my house. Well, outside of my house. You know it. October 1st, I was out there in the 90 degree day sweating as I hung my ghost and spread our large web across the window. This is why I had to remove the color and make the image black and white. It's just not the same 'fall' feeling when you see blaring blue sky reflecting in the window. Far too cheerful.
You can see this same blue sky reflecting in the door above my spooky, new wreath!
What do you think? I know- it's a little sparkly, but oh well. I live in Vegas. It's flashy like that. The idea was cooler in my mind. I can't help but think it looks a little Flinstones...pretty cool though, eh? Note the squirmy grey mice crawling around. I think I need to find some severed fingers and jam them in the twigs....

And the reason I don't have anything fun up on the inside is this: Home Improvement.
Everyone who loves "work in progress", raise your hand. Yeah, didn't think so.
The result is nice, but man- sometimes getting there is a pain in the arse. This is why our house is still bare and neglected in some decorating aspects. My mind is just not into all the 'doing' sometimes.
Scott and I agreed to finally try and finish some of the ideas we have had for a while. So this wall was our first start. Soon it will have a cool natural-edge shelf on it, be covered in bleached stacked stone and our table will (gasp) have chairs around it! I thought I would post some pictures of progress, like those fun DIY shows. Anyway- we'll see.
I have since cut a big hole in the wall for the shelf. I'll put that up next. Destruction is fun. :)

October is here!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
19 days until our wicked party. I am busy putting up decorations, making a wreath for my front door and gathering costumes. I love this time of year. Mwa-ha-haaaa.....
Pics to come of my frivolity.