7-Years-Old

Yesterday my babies turned 7-years-old. It's hard to believe that when we moved to South Weber, they weren't even born, yet. And now they are big 7-year-olds, losing teeth, and going to 1st grade, and growing tall.

We had an eventful day. First, they opened presents. Then we met a friend and his family and went to McDonald's for lunch. After that, it was off to the movie theater, where we saw Puss in Boots 3D. Then back home to have cake and ice cream.

Here are the pictures...in the order that they uploaded to blogger. (I still can't figure out an easy way to get them in the order I want them.)

Dallin chose an ice cream cake. Chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream in the middle.

The twins open one of their shared gifts, while Kaden watches in anticipation. I love this age that Kaden is right now. He wants so badly to be one of the "big kids", but is still excited about the "little kid" things like opening presents, etc.

New ties that are real ties...not clip-ons or zip-ups.

One of their favorites, even though they didn't ask for it. Sometimes those gifts that are cheap that mom and dad see at the last minute are the perfect hit! This was a little kit full of wooden pieces for them to make into a birdhouse, plane, car, etc, and paint. (I neglected to fix the red-eye that Dallin always has so badly in this pic. Sorry!)

Liam chose to have funfetti cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. It turned out very cute. There were a couple of different techniques for doing this kind of cup cake, and I learned that this is not my favorite. It had you fill the cupcake liners with batter, then place the ice cream cone upside down in the batter. Well, they kind of slid off to the side as the cupcake baked. Then you peel off the cupcake paper and frost the cupcake, mounding the icing up. They were too top-heavy, and not very well lodged in the cone, so, in hindsight, it probably wasn't the best method. Filling the cones would be better, I think.

Would you ever...

...go skydiving? How about paragliding? This past May, for our 16th anniversary, I bought a paragliding package for Ben and me. We finally were able to go in September. It wasn't the best day for paragliding, and Ben's flight wasn't very long, but I was up for about 10 minutes. We were suckered into paying for the little video the guy makes to promote his tandem paragliding business. Here I am, flying above the hills of Draper, UT. It was so much fun, and I wasn't scared one bit. I thought I might be, but somehow the way the kite took to the air, I felt completely safe. I would love to do it again sometime.

Baby in the House

There is not currently a baby in my house. Nor is there one expected. But last weekend, there was a sweet, little baby boy in my house. My dear friend, from Ricks College (from way back before it was BYU Idaho) had planned a weekend with her husband for their anniversary. I had the privilege of watching her youngest, who is 3 months old. He was so much fun to have in the house! Three days ago, Maren said, "Oh, I miss baby J!" We only had him for 3 nights, but he was a delight and made an impression on us all! There is definitely a heavenly spirit in the house with a baby around!

Here he is on Maren's lap, with Cinders, the cat.

We thought about keeping him, since he could be part of our family with those big blue eyes and very little hair. I don't think his mom and dad would have been too pleased, though, so we gave him back.

Thanks, Beth, for letting us play with your baby for a weekend!

Two totally random things:

1.
My cat excessively grooms all the hair out of her belly. I think she has arthritis, and so to relieve her achy joints, she obsessively grooms. It drives me nuts...not just because it makes her look silly, but because she is so loud about it.

2.
I have been crocheting a lot lately. Everything from slippers to scarves...from little flowers accents, to baby caps.

The result:

Yes, this is a sweater on a cat. Yes, it is the wrong cat it is on. Yes, this is the male cat wearing a pink sweater. And, yes, I crocheted this pink sweater on the male cat. The cat it was intended for is awfully ornery when I try to put it on her. And she is rather overweight, so I should have made it a bit larger. Maren is the one who put this lovely pink sweater on this man-cat. I have proven myself as "an old cat lady" in my children's eyes...crocheting garments for my cats.

Snow!

We had a pretty big snowstorm on Saturday. It started Friday night, making the kids exited to see the first snow falling. By Saturday morning, it was at least 4 inches deep on the grass. The trees were taken by surprise, since they had not lost all their leaves yet. The birch trees in my front yard looked like weeping willows. I'm surprised none of the branches snapped. Most of it has melted now, which is a good thing, since I had not raked the leaves that had fallen yet. However, the snowball remains!

The kids had a blast rolling a huge snowball in the back yard.

Erik pushes the start of the snowball, while Liam and a neighbor-boy look on, tramping in the path.

They pause for a picture.

It starts to grow.

Final product, with Maren perched on top.

Even Jack, our Siamese cat, joined in, frolicking in the new-fallen snow. Here he intently stares into the tree where some birds were seeking refuge.

Butternut Squash Soup

My next-door neighbor was nice enough to share some of the squash from her garden with us. (Thanks, Melissa!) I made this delicious butternut squash soup for dinner tonight. I was skeptical, and didn't think the kids would try it, but they did and it was a hit! It is a Betty Crocker recipe.

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 butternut squash (2 lb), peeled, cubed
2 cups water
1/2 tsp dried marjoram leaves
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
4 chicken bullion cubes
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. In a 3- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix onion, and remaining ingredients except cream cheese. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

In a blender or food processor, blend 1/3 to 1/2 of the mixture at a time, until smooth. Return blended mixture to slow cooker. Add cream cheese. Cover and cook on Low for another 30 minutes until cheese is melted. Stir with a wire whisk until smooth.

Enjoy!

Halloween

Mario and Luigi trick-or-treating

Kade decided to be a convict.

At the very last moment, Erik decided to pull out Ben's Santa suit that he uses at Christmas and go trick-or-treating as jolly old St. Nick.

Maren went as a cat.

There is a house in our neighborhood who decorates like crazy for Halloween. The themes are usually different each year. This year they had a pirate theme, complete with music from Pirates of the Caribbean, mist, and lots of pirates.

I fit right in.

This year, Ben's friend Randy had a costume party at Classic Skating. This place always reminds me of elementary school when we would go skating for field trips, etc. Even though this one is in Layton, and the one of my youth was in Orem...they are nearly exactly the same.

Ben skated, but I could not find my rollerblades. Last time I rented skates, it was so much work just trying to keep them going in the same direction, I decided to pass.