I’m… dreaming… of a white…

…Thanksgiving??

It is currently snowing like crazy.  Still.  Have I mentioned I don’t like snow?

But here is something I do like…

Cute little boys helping me in the kitchen.  Aren’t they cute?!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

There’s been a rumor flying around…

And now I know it’s true.

Yep, it’s official.  My girls are insane.

…guess I’d better get the hot chocolate ready…

What’s on your plate?

So here we are again. It is lunch time. This may sound bizarre, but I am in a food rut right now. Nothing sounds good. All growing up, it was cereal for breakfast, PBJ for lunch and something awesome my mom would cook for dinner. But having eaten PBJ everyday of my life until I left home has kind of warn out the appeal. So every day, when it comes to lunch, I never know what to eat. And it got me thinking... what do people eat for lunch besides PBJ? So I’m putting the question out there hoping for some ideas, hopefully somewhat healthy, of what to eat for lunch.

What do you eat for lunch?

Family Vacation: Bend

The kids were out of school, Jeremy had a couple days off of work and a couple of certificates for a free night’s stay at a hotel in Bend, OR, so we figured why not take a family vacation?  Sunday night, I realized we hadn’t told the kids yet, so we told them we would be going and they were so excited. They’ve been telling everyone about it all week.  Wednesday night I had to supervise the packing.  Otherwise we end up at our destination with 20 shirts, a toothbrush and 362 toys.  LOL…

So Thursday morning, we set off for Bend.  Here are the kids in the car: 

On the way there, we stopped at Stonehenge (in WA ).  We went there with Liah when she was really little, and we were just looking at pictures from it last weekend.  She didn’t remember going, so she was really excited to see it.  Since it was Veteran’s day, she was really excited to discover that it is a WWI monument. 

Me and my Addy

At the bottom of the hill is another monument.  It’s a very small “hike” down there, which Liah was too “cautious” to go on, so Addy and I stayed at the top with her, while Jeremy, Seany and Em went down.

It took some serious coaxing to get Liah up on this rock to get this picture.  I love these kids.

Across the river, we stopped for some lunch.  We didn’t actually eat here, but this place just says “Restaurant” on the side.  Liah’s reaction was hilarious “Uh, it’s just called ‘Restaurant’?”

The kids were so excited to go to the hotel and swim. 

This cracked me up.  It reminds me of the original Charlie and the Chocolate factory where the grandparents all sleep on that bed in the living room… anyway. (They didn’t actually sleep like this… I’m not that crazy)

The hotel couldn’t find a crib for Addy for the first night we were there, so Jeremy made him a make-shift bed.  The kids were so wired they didn’t fall asleep until 11.  Awesome.

Day 2

Emmy and Liah watching TV the next morning.

We did some shopping and went to Drake park in Bend.  It is gorgeous.

Ducks!

We drove up to the top of Pilot Butte.  Lots of people hike up this, and we told the kids we were going to go “hike a little mountain.”  Half way up the drive, Emily goes “you lied Mom, this isn’t a little mountain.  It’s huge!” and Liah starts freaking out about how “high” we are and says “I don’t want to hike up this mountain anymore!”  Oh the drama.

Here we are at the top:

This cracked me up.  Both of the girls took turns asking Addy if he would take a picture with them.  He is so popular.

For dinner, we went to the Black Bear diner, also another place we went with Liah when she was little.  Here is Addy following the bear tracks to the door.

I took the kids swimming when we got back to the hotel.  We must have worn out the kids yesterday, because they all went to sleep immediately.  (Or it might have had something to do with the treat we promised them the next day if they would go right to sleep.)

Day 3

Today, we did a little more shopping, then we went to McMenamin’s for a movie and lunch.  It is a cool place!  It is a discount theater, adults are $3 and kids $1, and it is full of couches and chairs.  Also, you can order food from their restaurant and they bring it to you while you are watching the movie.  Today’s movie was “Despicable Me,” which, if you haven’t seen it, is a cute movie!

Yes, amazingly flattering picture of my girls… but it was all I got. lol

Tonight we got home around 7:45.  It is great to be home, but we had such a great time together as a family.  It has been a while since we’ve taken a family vacation.  I don’t think we really have since the girls were both really little.  It was nice to get away from it all and just spend time together.

Halloween 2010

I love a good challenge. My girls have such confidence in my sewing abilities that they tell everyone, “we don’t buy our Halloween costumes, our mom makes them.” So when they request what they want to be for Halloween, I have to deliver. Emily wanted to be Corinne from Barbie and the 3 Musketeers. Every shot of her looks completely different, so I just took one and ran with it. She also wanted the hat and sword, so we did that, too. Here is the original:

and my version:

Liah wanted to be a pioneer. Who knew a pattern for a pioneer dress would be so hard to come by? When I went to get the material for Emily’s dress, they were out of Liah’s size in the pioneer dress pattern. So I found another one online, went to get and and hooray they had a size small! And just before I cut the actual material, I realized it was a WOMEN’S size small, not the girls. So the next day, back to the store I go, and they don’t have one in her size. I ended up getting it from Wal-mart and I had to pay $7 for it (ouch) rather than the $1 it would have cost me at Jo-Ann’s. Either way, I made that dress, and Liah LOVES it!

I made Addison a tiger costume. He hates wearing a costume. But he was gracious enough to pose for a couple pictures for a piece of candy. I think he is so cute!!!

Sean, now 3 years running, wanted to be a fireman. This costume, I didn’t make. It was a hand me down from a friend. And a very well used hand-me-down, I might add. Next year, he wants to be a ghost. We’ll see if that holds. (I woke him up from his nap to take this picture, thus the weird expression)

Addy discovered his couple pieces of candy from last week’s party at the school. He is currently stuffing his face with an entire box of Dots.

…and asking me to open the other two candies…

Last night was our Church’s trunk or treat party. The kids had a blast and got way too much candy. Today there was a party at the mall we went to, and they all got these cute little masks:

Also, Aunt Lorie sent the kids a Halloween package and we just got it today! Yay! The kids were so excited! Thanks Lorie!

Happy Halloween!!!