party on the petroglyphs

We visited the Petroglyphs while my parents were here. Banks pretty much climbed up the rocky hillside the whole time, steps away from certain death, much to his mother's dismay. He is getting so adventurous for that little body! Ak he scares me constantly. Apparently he takes after his father so normally I make Ben watch him for his eternal punishment for giving his mom a heart attack so often, but he wasn't there so I tasked Grandpa and he was much more relaxed than I could have been. I guess it's good for him to foster that daring side instead of squashing it. Someday he'll be totally fearless like his daddy and we'll all be proud. But right now I'm freaking out.

Check out the mop on the boys' heads. Do they need haircuts or what! Someone call their dang hairstylist.

Nana and Grandpa, we all cried on the way to church today because we miss you so much. Come back soon, please.

an autobot and a rat

We dressed, we walked, we conquered, and then we ran out of candy for trick or treaters. Benson was the most smiley Optimus Prime that ever walked the earth, and Banks was a very reluctant rat at first, until he figured out that there was candy involved and then he was more excited than Benson. Nana and Grandpa were here to enjoy the fun with us, and we are glad because it really was fun. And everyone (besides Ben, who's family started the tradition) got to experience their first orange dinner (which I sadly didn't get a photo of) and they approved.

Happy Halloween!

Ps. I figured out the photo issue. Chalk it up to quality loss in the conversion from raw to jpeg. Duh.

soccer!

Benson looks like his feet are on backward!

I don' t have a whole lot to say about these except, LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS! Oh goodness he is so cute. And there you have it.

And right now he is at the mall with Nana and Grandpa which makes him even cuter to me.

Also, these photos look really gray and washed out on here and I swear they don't look like that on my computer. Weird.

carving pumpkids

Banks did not want to touch the pumpkin guts

But he did want to kiss the pumpkin

Benson chose a baby pumpkin and cleaned it out by himself

The End

This was Benson's first year carving pumpkins and he loved it. Holidays are so much more fun with kids, and if you have some you know what I mean. Anyway, he drew the face on his pumpkin all by himself and then I carved it but I followed his lines exactly. Doesn't it look awesome?! Then we lit them and put them outside and Benson and Banks sat by the door and looked at them for a good half hour. It's so much fun to see them get excited about traditions.

I

HATE

CORN!

All this ado over the one kernel of corn Benson was required to eat before getting down from the table. I swear I've never met a child who didn't like corn.

lookee there...

right over there. See that nifty labels widget? Thats so you don't have to search endlessly anymore! Lucky you.

I should warn that not all the posts under there are actual recipes. Some are links and some are just about food but I'll add more so you can cook up a storm. I thought I had more recipes on here than I do.

today a recipe

tomorrow a tag. be excited.

This one is for my pregger sister, but they are super yummy so I thought I'd put the recipe here for all of you to enjoy.

French Breakfast Puffs

1/3 c. butter or shortening
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk
------------------------
Blend all ingredients in order. Scoop into greased or papered muffin pans (makes 1 dozen) and bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 20 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from oven and dip tops in 2 Tbs. melted butter and then cinnamon sugar mixture. Let cool slightly before eating.

Topping (mix together)
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon