Poodle skirt & light sabers and special friends

Uncle Windell sent us our costumes again this year (he's been our "supplier" since Anna's 1st Halloween). Anna was VERY excited about hers. Jacob didn't really know what was going on, but he wasn't havin' the hat! They were super cute and Anna had fun. We only go to a few houses, and of course the college. The funniest thing of the night was when we were at a friend's house and Jacob was squirming to get out of my arms. I finally let him get down and he headed straight for the coffee table (he likes to sweep everything off tables he can reach). So I went for him. My friend said "Oh he can't hurt anything." Anna says "You never can tell!" HA!!!

Mr. Vader (Darth Vader from Star Wars....not as scary as it could have been!) And this is the only picture I got with the hat on.

The 50s girl! (or pities guhl, as Anna said)

She was soooo good to stand still and let me fix her hair like this. Her hair is so smooth that it's not quick to pull it all back, and she usually wears it parted down the middle, so it's not easy to pull straight back either! She didn't even mind letting me curl it. I had fun:)

I didn't remember to get a treat bag, so she just used this one Aaron got from his half-marathon. It was HUGE, but oh well. As people said--that makes it all the longer before you have to go home with a full bag! ha

He only had one piece of candy, I promise! :) He was intent on watching Dora tonight. It was hilarious. He was totally chilled out in the recliner.

Earlier today, Kim's kids came over to play for a bit. They had so much fun! It got confusing more than once because their names just so happen to be Jake and Anna, too!!! So I had to use middle names! It wasn't too bad with the boys, b/c we usually call ours Jacob and hers is always Jake, but the Anna's...well, there was no way around that! So middle names it was. But it was still confusing! It's very funny. And they're very close in ages. Anna & Jake are about 5 months apart, and Anna and Jacob are only a couple months apart. Anyway, they went outside to play and decided to clean up the leaves! No prompting from me, I promise.

The other Anna stepped back to survey the work...

Aren't they cute? Jake and my Anna (Jake calls her Anna 2-A--it's so funny!) are such little buddies. I told Anna yesterday that they were coming over to play today and the first thing she does this morning is open the front door..."to see if Jake is here!!". And Kim said Jake was waiting on their porch for a long time this morning for us to come! :)

So it's been a busy, but fun day! And Daddy had to work really late tonight, so he missed out on the treating. :(

Whose kids are these?!

It's funny the "traits" that our kids inherit from us. Aaron very much dislikes reading. I could read several books a week if I had the time. Aaron loves salads. I don't hate them, but I'm not the biggest fan. Hmmmm........

He will sit for very long periods of time and just look at books. He loves them (Anna was and still is the same way).

She had three bowls of salad this day for a snack. She brought me the big bowl and said "I want some of dis!" I asked her if she knew that was the salad...she knew. Granted the three bowls were small, but still! She was very excited to be able to pour the Ranch on herself.

Politics

I'm not very good at expressing myself when it comes to politics. Well, that's not exactly true. I know how to express it, I'm just not as good at it as Dad! But I just can't not say anything. The more I hear, the more concern I have. I received an email from Family Research Council the other day about Obama's health care plan. I'll paste the Q&A they did with his spokesperson.

While the health care debate has largely focused on whom the candidates' plans will fund, more Americans need to understand exactly what they would fund. In a recent exchange with Senator Obama's spokesman, the group RH Reality Check posted the campaign's answers to a health care questionnaire on its website. The discussion begins with Obama's assertion, "Reproductive health care is an essential service -- just like mental health care... And private insurers that want to participate [in the Obama plan] will have to treat reproductive health care in the same way." According to these excerpts, Obama's plan would treat abortion as a basic health care mandate for both taxpayers and private health insurers to subsidize.

REALITY CHECK (RC): Does Senator Obama support adolescents' access to confidential family planning and reproductive health services, without having to seek permission from their parents?

OBAMA CAMPAIGN (OC): Yes. As the father of two daughters... Obama wants to be sure that there is access to a trained health care provider that can provide needed services or help them make good decisions.

RC: Does Sen. Obama... think adolescents should be able to access emergency contraception over the counter?

OBAMA CAMPAIGN: ...[H]e does believe that teenagers should be able to access EC over the counter. As noted above, he supports the right of adolescents to seek confidential family planning services.

RH: Does Sen. Obama support the Hyde Amendment [which bans federal funding of abortion]?

OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Obama does not support the Hyde Amendment.

RC: Does Sen. Obama support the continued federal funding for crisis pregnancy centers?

OBAMA CAMPAIGN: No.

I understand that this man is charismatic and a lot of people think he can bring great change to this nation. Is this the kind of change we want? He's willing for the government to fund abortions but not crisis pregnancy centers. This is only one of the many things that concerns me about this candidate. I've typed and deleted for 5 minutes because I can't express what I think about all this. Maybe I'll have Dad "guest post" :D Wanna be a blogger for a day Dad??

Garden variety pizza anyone?

We had a DELICIOUS veggie pizza at Bible study this morning (seriously--it was like a smorgasbord today! TONS of food). I was telling a friend about the Pampered Chef recipe I make and she asked me to post the recipe....so here you go Shellie! :)

Garden Ranch Pizza
1 pkg. refrigerated pizza crust
1/2 c. mayo (it tastes the best with mayo and not miracle whip)
1/2 pkg (2 Tbs.) Ranch powder mix
1 garlic clove, pressed (I rarely have garlic, so I don't usually put it in)
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 c. chopped broccoli
1/2 c. diced red pepper
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 c. black olives, sliced
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
*I never measure out the veggies and I usually just use whatever veggies I have on hand. The recipes gives the veggies that give it gorgeous color when it's all done. I also have PC's "handy chopper" which is great for chopping the broccoli--messy, but great. I don't think I ever put the Parmesan cheese on either. ha! I rarely follow a recipe to the letter!!*

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle round stone (or pizza pan) lightly with flour. Unroll crust dough and spread out on stone (PC's mini roller is perfect for this).
Combine mayo & Ranch mix and garlic; whisk. Spread onto crust. Top with 1 c. mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle veggies over crust and top with remaining 1 c. mozzarella. Sprinkle Parmesan on top.
Bake 18-22 min. or until edges are golden brown.

Very yummy (my kids love it) and super easy. We never have leftovers! Make some and invite me over! haha ;)

Comments

So I have a question about the comments. I really appreciate all of them that I get and I feel like I should respond to each one so you guys know how much I like reading them. But do I need to? I know when I leave a comment, unless I ask a question, I don't usually check back to see if the blogger responded (and even when I do, sometimes I forget to check back!!). And then there's another quandary...if another blogger comments and I want to respond, do I do so on my blog or on theirs?? hmmmm....
Okay, I've got to finish my Bible study for tomorrow. Last one. I'm kind of sad about that. It's been a really hard study, but it's been so good, and I enjoy the fellowship. The next one there won't start until the middle of January. It certainly wouldn't hurt me to read through the book again, that's for sure!

THE toy box

A couple years ago, after the MILLION toys we had for Anna (almost none of which we had bought for her!) started to overtake our entire house, I begged Aaron to make me a toy box. Now, when I asked for this, I would have been happy with a nothing-fancy-plywood-box with a lid. But, if you know Aaron, he just can't do that kind of thing. By this time he'd been working at his wood supply job for a while and he was really getting into all this fancy wood stuff (they only sell to higher-end homes) and his good friend that also works there is an incredibly talented wood-craftsman (he's made us 3 major pieces of furniture so far that are gorgeous). This friend also isn't known for being exactly fast:). Anyway, I gave Aaron the measurements that I wanted (BIG!) and waited. And waited.........I kept saying "Aaron, just put some pieces of wood together and make a box!" But he wouldn't do it. The time factor also wasn't helped by the fact that Ryan lives almost an hour from us and he has all the tools (and most of the knowledge) for doing this project. Quite a few months later, I had my beautiful toy box, which looks nothing like a toy box! One day, when the kids are gone, this will be a great place to store blankets and such. It really is a piece of furniture and not just a toy box. I'm glad it looks so nice (lots better than the plastic tub I was using!). But just to show you how big it is...

Here's Jacob sitting in it. We emptied it out last night and put some "new" toys in. Probably almost 2 years ago, I went through the toy box (b/c it was so full I couldn't even close the lid!) and put a bunch of toys in a tub and put it in the shed. I figured I could rotate the toys and it would seem like the kids were getting new toys every once in a while, without really getting new toys! Anna was very excited and now the toy box closes again!

Jacob thought it was GREAT to be in the toy box! I also forgot to mention that Aaron put "piano" hinges on this. That way, the lid on won't slam shut on little fingers (which is good b/c it's a HEAVY lid). It stays open almost fully and has to be pulled shut.

As you can see, there's room for a million toys! I think it's like 3 feet long and 1 1/2 ft. wide and deep.

Anna always thinks it's fun to climb into the toy box (I remember doing that as a kid). And yes, that's her hair, not a shadow. This was the day after her let's-stay-up-and-puke-all-night-long night :( Thankfully it was just a 24 hr (not even that) thing and she was fine the next day (I, on the other hand was not--after staying up with her all night it's going to take me a week (or month) to recover!).

Yummy Stew

Well, had I been thinking I would've taken a picture of it. But we're just lucky I remembered to put it in the crockpot this morning before we left for Bible study!! This recipe is from a dear friend Ellie. It is so delicious and it feeds a LOT. We had 4 college kids over tonight, plus the 4 of us. There's none leftover, but mmmmmm! :) I also used about 1/2 the amounts b/c I've made the full recipe before and it was too much for my crockpot (a big one).

Gone All Afternoon Stew
2lbs. stew meat (next time I'll use the full 2lbs. of meat, but I like it to be meaty)
3-4 med. carrots, peeled & quartered
2 med. onions (I use red)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 12-16 oz. pkg. frozen peas
1 12-16 oz.pkg. frozen corn
1 can tomato soup (I only had tomato sauce, so that's what I used)
1/2 soup can water
1 can stewed tomatoes (I did use a full can of these)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 c sweet pickle juice (or soy sauce, dill pickle juice or sweet pickle relish)

2 Tbps cornstarch

Mix all ingredients but cornstarch. Cover and cook in a crockpot:
on HIGH for 5-7 hrs.
on LOW for 8-9 hrs.
After cooked, and 30 min. before serving, remove the bay leaf. Mix the cornstarch with a bit of water. Add. Turn to high and stir a bit. It will eventually thicken it just a little.

I also only had Mexican style stewed tomatoes, so that gave it a little kick. It was still really good. I love this weather!! :)