Trunk or Treat 2009

On Tuesday was the ward Trunk or Treat. All I can say is that it was a crazy night. Because our fearless Activities Leaders decided to skip town and move to FL, ;) The few stranglers on the committee tried to wrangle it together. From running around trying to get the chili out, costume contest and things generally flowing well, I ended up having two little girls bawling half the time, a husband who was constantly in the kitchen helping out since there was no direction to have anyone helping and I wanted to puke my guts out (I was getting over food poisoning from the night before). From the feedback I got, people had fun and there were a lot of investigator families there which is good. I just hope they didn't notice how onery I was, because I just felt crappy. So here are a few pics of Hannah Montana, Alice and I was the Bride of Frankenstein (again the sickness made my hair not as up straight as it should have been but I was trying to hurry).

Crazy Charlie

I just uploaded pictures and have found a few of Charlotte being Charlotte. She is such a crazy little kid. She is so curious and into everything. Maybe she is just being a normal child and Savannah was just an angel at this age. HUGE difference. Charlotte loves to count with you and loves to accessorize (as you can tell in these pictures). She is always trying to help and when she wants you, she will grab your arm to pull you off your chair or push you off but being polite about it saying 'Scuse me'. She makes me laugh every day and we love her to pieces.

Fall it has arrived!

Aahhh... the fresh cool air of fall. Yesterday is was a high of 65 with a wind chill factor of 58. And I was freezing!! Boy am I a whimp. We had on long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts. It may have something to do with the fact that a week ago it was 100degrees and only 3 days ago it was 85. Oh how our blood has thinned since living in AZ. I had to chuckle though as I was doing laundry this morning, I was washing sweatshirts, long pants, shorts and tank tops all in the same load.

I have to say though I am not too big of a whimp to turn on the heater or fireplace. We have survived so far. But as I am writing this I am wearing thermal and wrapped in a blanket. I am thankful it will be a little bit warmer come Saturday, so the girls don't have to wear winter coats (not that we really own any) over their costumes.

Personalized Coloring Pages by Crayola

Go to this site and use the free code PR24QCHT to make your own coloring pages out of your picture. This code is only good fro 24 hours though. You can find more codes on specially marked boxes of Crayola crayons.

I tried to save my creation to post what it looks like, but it won't let me. And I'm too lazy to scan it. But it is cute and I'm sure Savannah will have fun coloring a picture with her in it. Enjoy.

OKay the link should work now. Sorry about that. The code is probably expired now, but be on the lookout for more. If it doesn't work, it is Crayola KidsZone, Lights, Camera Print. If you want to google it after.

Smores in a Jar

This is a super cute little gift for family/friends/teachers. I used it for VT, Savannah's teacher (school/primary) and also BOO'ing the neighbors. Super simple and the kids love it. Not sure how it tastes as I have yet to actually make it to eat. You can get the Peeps at Walgreens or Target.

Ingredients

• 1 canning jar, quart-size with lid and ring
• 1 sleeve graham crackers (about 10 crackers or 1 1/2 cups of crushed crackers)
• 1 large package seasonal peeps ® brand marshmallow candies
• 1⁄3 c brown sugar, packed
• 1 1⁄4 c chocolate chips or seasonal m&ms brand milk chocolate candies

Instructions

1. Place graham crackers in a zipper freezer food storage bag. Use a rolling pin or meat tenderizer to crush crackers into crumbs. (You'll need about 1 1/2 cup of crushed crumbs: one "sleeve" of graham crackers, or about 10 whole crackers equals 1 1/2 cup when crushed.)

2. Place graham cracker crumbs into quart-sized canning jar. Use a meat tenderizer to pack crumbs tightly into the bottom of the jar.

3. Place Peeps candies against the glass on all sides of the canning jar. Press lightly to create a well in the center of the jar. (You'll use approximately 2/3rds of the package; our Halloween recipe used 6 of a 9-pack package of Ghost Peeps.)

4. Add brown sugar to the space in the center of the Peeps, pressing gently to pack.

5. Gently add chocolate chips or M&Ms to the top of the canning jar. Seal jar with lid and sealer ring.

S'Mores In A Jar Recipe

Empty jar into large bowl. Remove marshmallows and combine remaining ingredients, mixing well.

Snip marshmallows into small pieces with scissors. Return to bowl; stir into dry mix.

Melt 1/2 cup butter, and add melted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/3rd cup buttermilk to bowl. Mix well.

Press lightly into greased 9-by-9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Or Print THIS gift tag off that includes the recipe

Polly Pocket Surgery

You would think that I have boys that like to torture their sisters by pulling limbs off their dolls ... Sadly, no it would just be how rough my toddler plays with her Polly Pockets. I should have taken a picture of the crime scene and the horror that was laid out on the floor. But I was quickly trying to revive the victims as quickly as possible. Wouldn't want a leg to go missing or put the wrong hair on the wrong gal. Talk about a permanent bad hair day or at least until 'Charlie' strikes again. I thought it best to start with the victim who had the most life threatening injuries, after all I wanted them ALL to survive. Unfortunately she had both of her legs amputated and was also beheaded. It was going to take some work. As I was preparing my instruments for surgery, I noted the time, and as luck should have it I had to run to carpool. I quickly wrangled the suspect and put her restrictive bindings on her that would harness her from doing more damage to my patients. I also forced her to watch a movie in which two of the victims (twins) starred in. Ariel. I raced to the school, so that I could wait in line for 10 minutes before class was released. I then attempted the impossible. The patient was unresponsive and I was not able to save her legs. She would have needed a total pelvis replacement in order to keep those legs in place. As I started to try to re-position her head, I thought her life just might not be the same without legs. Kind of hard to look good in those plastic pants and skirts without legs, so I was sure she probably was already in a happier place. On to my next three patients. The second was one of the twins. She too had been decapitated, but still had her legs. I was surprised that my instruments worked so well with the delicate work that was taking place. She was finally able to turn not only 'Eric's ' head but her own as well. The remaining two were not so much of a life threatening ailment as just being a fashion disaster. Both had been scalped. After finding just the right tool to unplug my adhesive agent, I was able to get them stylish again. I thought I had done a pretty good job. I only lost one of the four. I hope they will enjoy a long life, but I cannot keep their attacked in restraints all the time. I can only hope for the best. ...


Its late I know. :)

Pumpkins for Pajama's Drive

I used to be the Humanitarian Specialist in the ward and got released two weeks ago, but had already started a new project. Since honestly the ward turned out a pretty sad number on the school kits, the Ward Missionaries are jumping on board to help out with this one. It should be lots of fun to interact with the community and also be a great missionary opportunity. If you can help out we would sure appreciate it. Here is a little more info on the program.

Pumpkins for Pajama’s Drive

The "Danger Season" is now among us. This is the block of six cold and lonely months between October 1 and March 31 in which it is especially dangerous for a child to be without warm clothing at bedtime.

The children we serve through The Pajama Program have been abused and abandoned. They are frightened at night and uncertain about what tomorrow will bring. Add to this, cold nights and sparse clothing - it makes me shiver, inside and out. In the West Valley alone there is a need of 3200 pajama’s a month.

The Pumpkins for Pajama’s Drive will be on October 31^st. From 8:00am – 2:00pm.

There will be two drop off locations: Mountain Side Fitness (27^th Ave & Carefree Hwy in Tramonto) and the LDS church meeting house (35^th Ave & Happy Valley Rd).

Will you help us provide a warm, cozy pair of new pajamas to these children?

For more information on the Pajama Program or how you can further help.

http://www.pajamaprogram.org/index.html

Sponsored by:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

For more information on how to help contact Kristine Wright at kmariewright@yahoo.com

Portraits andcampfire's

It was school picture day a couple of weeks ago and Savannah wanted to 'practice' her smile. She told me she wanted to get an A on picture day. So here she is ready for picture day. The other picture is a self portrait she took of herself in the backyard. She is very proud of it.

Kennedy and Cohen were over to play the other day and boy do the three of them have lots of fun. Kennedy and Charlotte were looking out the window and yelling at the birds. The window as cracked open a bit (it was a cool day then) and they were giggling whenever they would scare them.

Two weekends ago was our ward campout. It was nice to get out in the clean, crisp air. And when I say crisp, wow has my blood thinned. We got to camp around 5:45p and the temp was already 53. It was suppose to hit 35 in the night. I believe it did and then some. Dispite having two pairs of socks on, my feet NEVER got warm. We let the girls sleep in their own sleeping bags. I should have taken a picture of them all burrowed in but the camera was still in the van, and as previously mentioned it was cold so I was not running out to the van. Savannah was cold and said, 'I thought this was going to be fun, but its not! I want to go home!' She didn't think she would ever get warm. But after about 10 minutes of complaining she was a sleep. Charlotte on the other hand she thought sleeping in a sleeping bag was great. She was all burrowed in with her head covered then she would say, 'Where's Charlotte?' Then pop the top down and giggle. This went on for about 45 minutes. The next morning the girls had fun playing with friends and getting very dirty! Charlotte watched a few movies in the van since he kept her away from the fire. She wanted to be like the big kids and poke sticks in the fire. Not to my liking for a toddler so I was happy to have her watch a show. Charlotte was being chummy with our WY Pres, but whenever she sat on her lap she would put her finger in her nose (she has noticed it fit perfectly in there), so Janna being the good sport she is played along too.

There were a few families that decided to stay another night, so they wanted to make sure they had enough wood to last through the night for the fire. Our fearless Scout Master had just the right idea. Climb a tree and use the chainsaw to cut off the dead branches. His wife was betting that he would cut a branch that he was standing on. Luckily there were no severed limbs but lots of firewood.

24th Ave Drop Off

Have you ever seen the movie, 'One Fine Day'? Remember how they were trying to figure out where to put their kiddos. Then they ended up dropping then at the 9th Street drop-off for a while. I felt like the 24th Ave drop off last week. I had 2 families of kids on Monday, 1 family on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, took the day off Thursday and then had our Babysitters Club on Friday with 3 families. It was a crazy week. Not that I mind having the kids, I love to be able to help out friends in a bind. Savannah loves to play with the kids, and I love it that she is playing and not watching tv. But man I just must be a loner/loser that they know I will just be home (and I am). I really should get a hobby or something. Anyway, I just thought it was pretty funny. Chad would come home each day and ask whose kids we had today. But in the meantime of looking for a hobby, I will be home doing service for my friends.

Halloween Craft: Candy Bar Covers

I saw this over at Skip To My Lou and had to blog about it. They are so cute, and so ultra easy to make. Check out her blog for all the details and the templates for the bat.