Halloween!

Halloween was really fun this year.  I ended up taking the kids to our Church's Trunk or Treat. I wasn't planning on it. I figured they would get enough candy walking the neighborhood and didn't need additional treats from Church, but at very short notice, Derek was called into work and may not be home in time to keep a sleeping Jocelyn so I could take the kids out.  Luckily he was able to get home soon enough so I didn't have to lug a screaming tired baby up and down the street.  

This year Charlie had his heart set on being a Mummy.  I remember my Sis-in-Law had her boys dress up as Mummy's last year (they looked way better), but after they got all wrapped up, there was no going to the bathroom. So I compromised on his costume so he could wear it all day and be able to take care of business.  Some people got right away that he was a Mummy, others thought he was a bandaged patient.  

Leah is slowing moving from little girl to pre-teen.  Instead of a princess, she wanted to be a rock star.  It is her life's ambition to become a rock-star.  No amount of dissuasion will change her mind either.  So we had fun picking out the fabric and I created a look circa 1980's rock-star.  We had planned on her wearing her costume to school on Halloween, but the day before the school sent home a notice saying kids could only dress up if they dressed like book characters.  A little notice would have been nice.  There was no way I was going to comply to that.  So with the help of friends, we altered her by name only to be Jem from Jem and the Holograms.  They had several books written in the 80's.  Good enough for me.  

My littlest munchkin was fun. I didn't need a crazy warm costume like I have in the past.  It was 80 degrees on Halloween.  I found some cute peacock costumes online and I recreated that for Jocelyn.  Her's was proabably the hardest only because I couldn't find what I wanted and I had to settle for what was available.  I wanted her in a turquoise blue onsie and orange tights.  Yeah, they don't make those.  I looked everywhere.  She still ended up stinking cute.  

 At the church for Trunk or Treat

Jocelyn's first sucker.  She was hillarious.  I had to pry it out of her fingers when the stick started to break.  

Birthday Boy

I have a few meager pictures from Charlie's 5th birthday.  I always want to take more, but it's take pictures or wrangle a house full of 5 year old's.  I chose the later.  

 We had Charlie's birthday party after his actual birthday  So for his birthday, we had his favorite meal, spaghetti with meatballs, ate cupcakes and opened family presents.  You have to feel special on your birthday.

 Charlie wanted a monster birthday cake again this year, so I had him sit with me while we looked at pictures on the Internet.  We found an image similar to this that he loved.  I thought we might get a green monster this year, but at the last minute, he wanted blue....shocking since it is his favorite color.

 Charlie had several little friends over to celebrate turning 5.  We had a Halloween themed party with party games.  A first for me.  Usually we just let the kids play, but after last years fiasco with Leah's party, I realized we needed a little structure.  We had pin the spider on the web, pumpkin bowling, Halloween bingo and a balloon spider pinata.  And of course I didn't take any pictures of this.

Charlie and his friends seemed to have a great time.  He was very happy to have all his friends over to play. So I'd say having a happy kid makes for a successful party.

New Pictures from August

 First Day of School Photos

 First Day of Pre-K

Pitting Cherries

I love Bountiful Baskets.  I have been getting their fruit and veggie basket for almost a year now.  A few weeks ago I got a big bunch of cherries in the basket and all I could think of was I wanted a cherry pie.  I've never made a fresh cherry pie before. I researched a bunch of cherry pie recipes and found one that seemed promising.  I would share it with you, but it was not good.  I found it on one of my favorite recipe sites and it had glowing, blue ribbon award winning reviews.  They lied.  But that's beside the point of this post today.  While reading the reviews for this famous pie recipe, one of the posters mentioned briefly how she pitted her cherries using a beer bottle and a pencil without an eraser.  I HATE pitting cherries. I don't have a cherry pitter so I've always used a knife and it leaves my fingers stained and the counters stained and a big old mess.   So naturally I was intrigued by this beer bottle idea.  She didn't explain any further than that so I had to use my imagination on how it would actually work and since I don't drink beer I had to come up with an alternative to the beer bottle brilliance.  I was so pleased and excited at how easy it was to pit these cherries I had to share this with the world.  

The Supplies:

One glass

A funnel

A pencil with the eraser removed

A bowl for disemboweled cherries

If you have a beer bottle you can skip the funnel and rest the cherry on the mouth of the bottle.

Me, I set the cherry, stem removed but stem side facing up, in the bottom of my funnel.  I found it easier to puncture if the stem was facing up.

Using the eraser side of the pencil, push down centered on the cherry.

You can see my pencil went all the way through the funnel and the cherry pit falls into the bottom of the glass.
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This is a close up of the action.  The pit gets caught in the pencil.

 Lovely, pit-less cherry all ready for my pie.  

So easy, I was able to pit all the cherries for my pie in about 30 minutes. And see...no cherry stains on my fingers.  Awesome.  

Much Overdue Pictures

For those in the dark ages, i.e. without Facebook, we have moved out of the Deep South to the South-West.  I didn't want yet another move across the Country, but you take what the Army gives you.  So far Arizona isn't so bad.  I have yet to see a scorpion, tarantula or a rattle snake so I think that's pretty good.  We have gotten all settled into our new house and are slowly, very slowly meeting people and making friends.  Since I have no friends I have nothing better to do than update my blog.  Here are some much requested pictures.

Every month I take a picture of Jocelyn on the wonderful blanket her Grandma young made for her.  I did this with both of the other kids too and it's been fun to look back and see how much they have grown in a month.

 Newly Born

 One Month Old

 Two Months Old

 Three Months Old

4 Months Old


Here are the pictures of our new house.

This is Leah's room

 This is Charlie's room

 This is Jocelyn's room

 Picture of the back of the living room looking at the front door.

 Derek's "office" or the other side of the living room

 Living Room

 Front of the house.

 Back Yard, yes it is all gravel. Hardest part about getting used to the South West is Desert Landscaping, ie. no grass.

 Back Yard

 Kitchen

 Blurry Dining Room

Living Room.  Please note our lovely Eagle mantle piece.  Derek's Trophy for placing first in his class at Ft. Gordon.  It's there as a joke.

FEBRUARY PICTURES

MARCH PICTURES

APRIL PICTURES

 Our trip to the Columbia S.C. Zoo with friends.  It was HOT.

 Trip to Steeds Dairy.  They were down the street a bit from out house.  The kids had so much fun.

Easter Egg hunting at the Columbia County Library Park

 There was a monstrous crowd and 30 seconds after the whistle blew, the hunt was over.

Decorating Easter eggs at home.  First time dying them, mom doesn't like the mess.  I still have glitter glued to my table.  Grrr.

 Easter morning with the bunnies spoils.

 Jocelyn was blessed Easter Sunday.

My impromptu photo shoot with her.  I really need to get better at this.  And yes, I did make her dress.  

MAY PICTURES

 Charlie's preschool graduation.  His class sang songs they learned and also recited some bible verses.

 Charlie and his teachers Miss Peggy and Miss Ellen.

 Leah's Kindergarten graduation.  You can see her in the purple dress.  They sang a bunch of songs too.

 Back in her classroom with her teachers, Mrs. Gardner and Mrs. Davenport, they handed out awards to each of the kids.  Leah got a starburst award, because she's destined to be a star.  My little drama queen.

JUNE PICTURES

 Jocelyn's first bite of solid foods.  Green beans and she gobbled them up like I had been starving her her entire life.  She has yet to find a food she doesn't like.  That is music to this mom's ears since the other two are extremely picky.

Enjoying our first desert rain storm.  It was so nice and the water was so cold.

Pictures of baby J in the same dress Leah wore as a baby.  

We are now completely up to date on all the pictures I have taken of the kids.

Oh, and just for fun, this is Leah in the same dress...she's 4 months old too.