Halloween Dog

The other day I was changing sheets in the kids' rooms when Crew asked me what I was going to be for Halloween.  I told him I was going to be a really, really mean mom.  I'm sure he didn't think this was much of a stretch for me.  

Then, he asked me what Indie was going to be.  We decided to try out a couple different costumes on our sweet doggie.  

I thought she made quite a striking bride.  So pensive, and looks as if she is in deep thought about her future dog husband in this photograph.

Then, we decided to see what she might look like as a ghost dog with the dirty sheets.  Please don't call PETA on me.  She liked it, I swear.

Quite a scary ghost we thought.

See?  She loved it.  She loved it so much she couldn't stop licking Crew's ear.  Thank goodness we have her to clean out that pesky ear wax.

Crew Turns 4!!!

We woke Crew up on his birthday morning singing "Happy Birthday" and the traditional candle.

He was super excited about all of his presents.  Especially the Phineas and Ferb skate board and knee, elbow and wrist pads.

The girls made him birthday cards.  Even after opening his presents he was really interested in them.

The one on top is from Paige, the bottom one is from Hailey.  I had to take pictures of them because they were so sweet.  Hailey told Crew he was an "assome", cool, and funny brother.

After opening presents upstairs, we came downstairs for breakfast where he had a couple more gifts waiting for him.  The one he just opened below was from Nanny and Papa and you can see he's super excited about it!

After his favorite breakfast of pancakes and sausage we headed to school.  It happened to be the day of his pumpkin patch field trip.

After the field trip, Crew wanted Arctic Circle for lunch.

After lunch, we tried out a few of the things he had gotten that morning.

He has already got some skills with the skateboard.  A side note, the day before his birthday he actually rode his two wheeler without training wheels!  I got it on video but didn't get any pictures.

We're hoping this punching bag will take the place of his sisters. 

That afternoon we picked up the girls from school and headed down to Salt Lake for the weekend.  It's Grandmommy's birthday 4 days after Crew's so we had a double birthday dinner celebration at the "place where they cook on the table" (that's what we call it).

After dinner we went back to my mom's for birthday cake.

I can't believe my baby is 4!!!  I love you Crew!!!

Easy As Pie

I never really understood the expression "easy as pie."  I remember trying to make pies on Thanksgiving one year when we were first married and I was pregnant with Hailey.  That year I cooked the turkey upside down (not on purpose) and my pies were awful.  So awful, in fact, that our friend Dan gave me a pie crust making kit for Christmas that year as a joke!  I haven't attempted pie making again until today. I was inspired here.  She made it look so easy (and she said it was o.k. to use refrigerated pie crust) that I figured it was about time I give it another shot!

I went out and got this fancy apple peeler thing and Jim and Crew had fun using it.  Nifty, for sure.

The only ingredients are apples, sugar, cinnamon, flour and a little lemon juice.

If you want the recipe, visit the link above.

Voila! 

(I know there is supposed to be a little accent over the "a" but I can't figure that out).

And, it was delicious!

Sacrifice, Self-Esteem and a Sunset

We are trying to squeeze in every last bit of enjoyment out of this incredible fall weather.   So this past weekend we loaded the kids, bikes, fishing poles and dog into the car for a day trip up to Harriman State Park with Nanny and Papa.

The bike ride was a beautiful 7 miles, part of it single track and most of it quite bumpy and sandy. It was hard for the girls to get through, in fact, Paige just pretty much refused to go on for the second half.  In her defense, she had the wrong kind of bike for this ride.  I ended up putting her on my bike seat on the way back and Papa Red carried her (very heavy) bike while he rode his own bike.  I peddled either standing or partially sitting on the very, very tip of my seat for a good 3+ miles while she rode holding on to me.  Ouch - is all I have to say today.  I think I've got bruises in places where the sun don't shine if you know what I mean.  

Not only was Paige upset about the difficulty of the bike ride, she was yelling and screaming at me while I was hauling her back to the car, that I was only wearing a sports bra and that she was embarrassed (even though we never saw anyone else) and that I was being "inappropriate."  I mean, I guess I don't blame her for being embarrassed, it's not like I enjoy exposing my wrinkled, post-three-baby stomach with a herniated belly button (part of which she contributed to while in utero, mind you).  What she forgot so easily was that the reason why I only had a sports bra on was because she had decided to walk across a stream and had gotten herself soaking wet and in the midst of her whining about being wet and cold, I took off my t-shirt and let her wear it in place of her own sopping wet one.

The Paige Saga went on, and on.  I'll leave out the details about the potty situation that I helped her with but it involved running, gagging, wiping and lots of hand sanitizer.  The things we do in the name of our children!

We stopped along the way to pet some horses.  I can't believe how brave the kids are to just walk up and pet these huge animals!

It was hard to notice how the other two children were doing in the wake of Paige but we were really proud of Hailey and I think she was really proud of herself.  It was a difficult ride and she did do her fair share of complaining but in the end, she finished it all on her own.

Marianna (Nanny) is always talking about how kids gain self-esteem by what they "do."  She and Red (Papa) are always creating situations for them to learn and accomplish things.  When we got back to the car, Nanny traced out on the map how far we had gone and I could see the look of pride on Hailey's face.  She took the map to school to show her friends how she had gone on a "7 mile bike ride!"

Crew did great, just riding along attached to the back of Jim's bike.  I'm so glad we're getting so much use out of this purchase!  Crew and I have been enjoying our own daily bike rides around the neighborhood with it.

I forget that at some point in life I must've liked spreading dirt all over myself too.  

After the bike ride, we stopped to fish.  I really shouldn't say "we" because I let everyone else go while I curled up in the car and listened to a book on my iPhone.  I did get out at the end to snap a few shots though.

If you look closely, you can see Jim's shoes are filled with moss.

No one caught anything, not even Indie.

After fishing, Nanny and Papa took us all out to a delicious dinner where we sat and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

Crew the Viking Warrior

The other day I was with Crew at Target in the dollar section.  He loves hats and this one spoke to him and he had to have it.  I could tell he was envisioning lots of sword fights with this hat on.

I wish we had taken more pictures of him over the weekend...he wore it everywhere!  Jim humored me and went to a bunch of open houses in Salt Lake with me, Crew tagged along and wore it all day.

We took him out to dinner that night with some friends (he was in no mood to stay with the sitter) and he wore it in the Bombay House where all the waiters had quite a fun time comparing their hats with his.