Jack Lanterning

The kids picked out their own pumpkins from a little roadside stand. I picked out a couple sugar pumpkins and made pumpkin soup on Sunday. For some reason it wasn't as good as usual -- probably because I did not cook the garlic. Kind of a bummer when I went to all the trouble of roasting the pumpkins in the oven...oh well. Anyway, they drew faces on the pumpkins and I carved the faces out. We roasted pumpkin seeds...and Ron re-roasted them because I took them out too early. The quality of the video isn't great...but you get the cute voices nonetheless.

Funny story of the week: Talia has been working on writing a thank-you note to her Grandma Barbara. A couple days ago she was asking Ron how to spell a few words. Later, she showed me her thank-you note. It said "Dear Grandma Barbara, you are a natural woman. Love Talia." She read it to me and then tilted her head quizzically, saying, "Mom, what is a natural woman?" Too funny.

In the vids below, Malachi is saying "Don't steal some of my stuff!" Talia is saying "You can't sneak past me and sneak some of my stuff!"

The Fair!

We went to the fair. This was the most fun I've ever had at the fair, mainly because I decided mindfully that I was not going to worry about anything! We all had a great time. Here are a few pictures of the kids. Emma came with us for a few hours at the beginning and you'll see her sitting next to Malachi on the dragon ride. Talia is the one who is really getting into it with her arms up. She went on scarier rides this year, some with her friend Owen (in the tilt-a-whirl ride), and had a great time. How do you like the face paint?

Popo

Malachi LOVES his Popo. Popo, for those who don't know, is a wolf. He lives in the woods near our house and he eats omega 3's and roadkill. He also drives an Audi. In the summer, it's an Audi convertible and in the winter, it's not a convertible. Popo goes so fast that he needs 10 seatbelts. You can't even see him fly by you. UPDATE: I forgot to tell you (Malachi reminds me) about Popo's memory book. See, there's this memory book that Popo keeps about things that Malachi doesn't know about. Every night in the middle of the night (at 8:30 pm), Popo tells Malachi about things in the memory book.

Staple my camera to my forehead

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and perfect for the corn maze! Talia and Malachi loved it and I, amazingly, forgot to bring the camera. Maybe I can take a couple pictures next time. The corn was about 10 feet tall and the sun was shining and the air was just a little bit crisp (but mostly warm). There were piles of pumpkins next to the corn maze. This bit of fun happened after the kids did a great job helping me clean the house. They are getting really good at that. We write down the names of the rooms that need cleaning (they choose which number goes with each room) and then we write down numbers on slips of paper. I throw in a couple fun slips with things like "snack break" and "crazy time" and "cozy time" on them. Then we take turns choosing a slip of paper and we go clean that room. After the room is clean, we all do our little "ooga booga CLEAN" dance and go on to whatever the next slip of paper says to do. The kids are good at: wiping off the table, cleaning the chairs, cleaning the walls, helping mop the floor (they spray and I mop), dustpanning for me while I sweep, helping dry and put away dishes, and helping switch laundry from washer to dryer. Plus, they are fun to hang out with while we clean...except for when they aren't listening of course. Yeah.

Hmm what other fun did we have this week? Oh yeah, we spent Friday night in one of our favorite hangouts, the ER (yeah, I got a sarcasm drip). Talia had an asthma attack and the pediatrician wasn't happy with her progress on the nebulizer at the office, so he sent us to the ER since he had to go home at 5 pm. Bummer. Major bummer. We were there until 9:30 at night and it was a lucky thing that we grabbed handfuls of salad greens and an apple out of the groceries that were in the car. Plus we split a cheese stick three ways. So at 10 pm we got home and whipped up some quick salmon and veggies. Not quite what I was planning. Also, even though I managed to drop off the perishable groceries at my office minifridge, the building closed before we could get back there after the ER fun, and so those groceries are still there! Grr.

The primary program was today and it actually came off very well. The CTR7 class dropped their handbells and generally performed the worst ever but it was pretty cute anyway. One of the women in the ward said that the high point of the program for her was hearing Talia singing all the notes so beautifully. Malachi spoke very nicely and you could easily understand each word. His favorite commandment was to love Jesus. Talia said that she like to serve others by helping Daddy mow the lawn (yeah I'm sure he appreciates the "help") and helping Mommy wash dishes.

In other exciting news, Malachi's hair is starting to grow out. I can't wait for it to get longer and curly again. Here is his cute smile today...

After church I put together a quick clam and kale chowder that turned out yummericious! (For the recipe, see Mike's recipe database). I have to say, all this organic eating has sure made me feel better and healthier. It's not 100% but it's probably 97%. Yesterday after the corn maze the kids begged me for ice cream and I relented...but insisted that instead of the soft serve cones at the corn maze that we go get some good organic ice cream from the health food store. Cost wise it was cheaper overall...by serving at least.

Here's a picture of the tomatoes I bought on Friday from a local organic grower. I found her by using the website localharvest.com. Gorgeous, heirloom tomatoes. I'm going to attempt to save the seeds and plant them next year. The green ones are called zebra tomatoes and they are striped and tasty.

First Day of School

Tuesday was the first day of school. Malachi and Talia both have wonderful teachers and they had a great first day...despite some bus adventures for Malachi! Malachi's bus driver dropped him off at home, despite a note that instructed otherwise, and despite the fact that no one was home! Malachi said that he made sure "meow-me" was fine (Naomi our cat). He wasn't worried and it all got straightened out in the end. Talia says that the best thing about her first week of school is PE. Malachi's favorite thing was also PE "because we get to do bumper cars." I have been able to successfully pack lunches and snacks for four days in a row (yes, this was stressing me out!!).

This is our third week of eating pretty much all organic food and all homemade bread. No white flour. No white sugar. Making bread hasn't been nearly as big a deal as I thought it would be. Malachi and Talia are very good at kneading. I mean good at kneading as in they are actually helpful and not just cute.

So the lunchboxes this week included things like cut up tomatoes (we are loving the fresh tomatoes in tomato season!!), cut up cucumbers, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, unsweetened dried pineapple, apples, organic string cheese, ants on a log (too messy so I probably won't do that again), organic yogurt, peanut butter/honey sandwiches, bananas and even a salad on one day. I sent some bread with oil/balsamic vinegar one day for Talia (she loves this at home) but she said it was too messy.

We found a source for local honey, so we are using that in hopes that it helps with some of the allergies. Not sure how we could really tell, as I don't have any reliable outcome measures for allergy suffering...but hey, it's not expensive and it's good.

Oh yeah, Malachi's hair. That boy cut his own hair. He said he did it in the middle of the night before Sunday morning. He made cuts that went all the way to the scalp, so there was no saving of any of his curls. Ron shaved his head. He said he doesn't want to cut his hair again. I miss the curls but I guess they'll grow out again soon.

Brandon update -- he had a good week. He's feeling good and he was busy, busy, busy all week. He had an exam in his philosophy class, and in his calculus class. He said he did really well on both (I don't remember the actual college parlance he used). He's home for Labor Day weekend, hurrah, and he'll be busy all weekend doing all the laundry he brought home. Last night he showed me another great movie -- Stranger than Fiction. I recommend it. And speaking of good movies, if you haven't seen Whale Rider, you really should. Beautiful movie.

Friday Fun

Yesterday the kids and I had a full day...of fun! First, we had a playdate at the park for Talia's school class. She's in a combined 1-2 grade class with several friends she already knows, one of them being Emma, our friend of many years. You can see them swinging together. Malachi spent some quality time in the sandbox. Next, we discarded our plans to go pick berries because it was getting very hot and humid. So we went swimming with Rebecca and Emma instead. Much better plan. After we swam for awhile, the kids and I went to pick up Brandon, who came home for the weekend. He's still feeling sick and we are at a loss for why.

Brandon is enjoying school so far -- after two days of class! He said that his calculus prof is amazing and goes very fast in class. "Finally I won't be bored in calculus!" I was never bored in calculus either, but that was mainly because I was so completely confused.

In other fun news, Malachi is continuing the family tradition of appearing on the front page of the local paper! He is in a picture of children getting on the bus for the practice bus ride for kindergarten . There are also a couple more pictures inside the paper that include him.

Today the kids are going duck bowling with Emma for her birthday. Tonight, Brandon and I will probably finish watching Casino Royale (we started it last night). Maybe I'll have some cute pics of the kids bowling. Or a cute pic of Brandon shopping for a fan. Wow. That would be very exciting.

Fun Run!

So we have this fun run in our town. It's way cute -- any age can run. The length is once around the track, about a quarter mile. Talia and Malachi both run in the 5-7 years division (divided by gender). We've gone the last two times and BOTH times, Talia has gotten 3rd place! Malachi is barely in the 5-7 age group, and he is PROUD to be able to actually run all the way around the track. I love to watch them both - it's so fun to cheer them on and to see how hard they try. So proud.