The Post in which I cram a ton of random pictures

Prepare yourselves to be dumped on... with pictures of course. Someday maybe I'll be good at this blogging thing again.

Ok, remember the part where I had a baby in October? Well we came home from the hospital and a day or so later we got about 6" of snow. Crazy huh!?! Said snow put us without power for about a week. New baby and no power. I always wanted to go camping in the cold with a newborn...sigh.

Paisley didn't want her picture taken.Tab had a blast.Benton too. Poor things, this is the best snow we got this year.They playhouse was fun.But the snow fort they built was better.
Remember how I said the power went out. Well, we were going a bit stir crazy in the house after several days, so we loaded our stinky selves into the van and drove 45 minutes to Cabella's. We took the kids to the "shooting range". Tab wasn't half bad.Benton required more than a bit of assistance. Paisley was interested in holding the gun but could care less what was done with it.Daddy even let Hobbes get in on the action.
Then we checked out the fish and other "wild life".They spent quite a bit of time watching the fish.We had fun watching them and trying to prevent them from joining the fish in the pond.Since it was still Fall when we had this lovely storm, the snow melted quickly. So Jason got to work putting the drainage in so we wouldn't get any more water in the basement.
Benton quite enjoyed helping him.
I do believe they quite enjoyed the mess they made of the yard.He made great progress during his time off. After all of the digging and laying of the pavers and ground cloth, etc. etc. came the rocks!I dare say that this was the kids favorite part to help with.Though Tab was confused as to why the dump truck couldn't just dump the rocks where they belonged.It was great to see them out working with dad.It is now complete but don't have a picture of it at the moment.While they worked on that, Tab and I planted some Tulips!And since I was pretty much crazy I took the kids to do the Home Depot Project.Would you look at that focus!One of the employees took pity on me and helped Paisley build her picture frame.Ta-Da!
Not to be outdone, Hobbes helped out.The lady there couldn't get enough of him and insisted that he needed his very own apron. (That same lady is always there when we go and asks to hold Hobbes while I help the kids. She rocks!)
It wouldn't be my boys with out some silliness or boxes. Luckily this picture captures both.The favorite place to hang out in the mornings when dad is home. I pretty much get kicked to the curb.This past Fall there were abundant opportunities to play in the leaves.
And with fallen branches.It made for hours of outdoor fun.
Lifting the branches made Tab realize how strong he is.How was that for a major dump? Not enough randomness for you? Don't worry there is more coming your way.

Halloween!

At long last, I am posting about Halloween. The celebrations started with a parade that when right down the street passed our house! It was so fun to sit out on our curb and watch. The boys played football with Dad while we waited.Um, Tab, you better watch out. Benton is coming for you and that kid is a bulldozer. They spent a fair amount of time jumping in the leaf piles.Waiting....waiting....waiting....Finally, the parade came. There was plenty of candy to start off the stash.Benton and Tab both had parades and parties at their schools. I forgot my camera at Benton's party. Bad mommy. But I remembered for Tab. He was thrilled that he got to lead his class in his parade with his teacher.Tab with his class.Next up was trick-or-treating. Poor things were freezing...Did I mention that it snowed a few hours after they got back. I suppose that is for another post. Then was the ward party. They had some fun activities for the kids. Here is Benton playing pin the face on the pumpkin. The end result.Tab also had a go at it. The kids were all lined up for a parade.Hobbes was a good sport.We finally got a family shot. Jason handed out candy from the Tee Pee during the trunk or treating.And close ups of the costumes. Every year I get a little bit more over the top. I do believe that this is the last year for this. Next year my mantra is going to be SIMPLIFY.

Tab and Benton. I used a pattern for their pants and tops. Then they each have moccasin like shoe covers, headdresses, chokers, chest plate type things (Tab took his off before the pictures.) quivers and bows and waist pouches used for "gathering". Daddy made their bows. No arrows, much to their dismay. I thought that would get a little dangerous. And the quivers...Paisley- I didn't use a pattern for her. She has her dress, choker, headband and feathers in her little braids.Hobbes- Doesn't he make the cutest Indian EVER? He just had a little headdress and his papoose. I love how the papoose turned out. It was so nice and cozy. I had wanted to make a cradle board but ran out of time. I can't imagine why! Then Jason. I used a pair of scrubs as a reference for making his costume. I worked out pretty well. He also had a choker, waist pouch,quiver and headband. He did NOT want feathers...lol.The quiver.
And finally, my costume. Again, I just used clothes I had as a reference for making a pattern for my costume. I had a necklace and headband, which I apparently took off before the pictures. No comments on how wide I look ok...I was a week postpartum. Just be happy I'm sharing at all.

Date Night...IN

We haven't really had very much opportunity to go OUT on dates as we just can't muster up the strength to pay for a babysitter. So we've been trying to have date nights IN after the kids are in bed. It isn't nearly as nice as going out but we get to spend some time together and we usually end up doing something enjoyable.

This time we decided to make some tortillas. We had been talking about trying it FOREVER, yet we just hadn't taken the time. SO we thought this was the perfect subject for our most recent date night. I had the job of rolling out the dough.Jason cooked them up.
Sorry, no finished product pictures. Apparently I'm slacking lately. They turned out pretty good. At first I thought that they were too stiff to use as a typical tortilla for burritos and such. But the next morning they were perfectly soft so I made breakfast burritos for everyone and they were divine. I would love to make all of our tortillas as they aren't super cheap and we use A LOT of them. Perhaps I should invest in a tortilla press? Anyone have experience with one?

More Soccer

Jason does such a good job capturing great pictures of Tab's soccer games. I just had to share more soccer pictures as that is what we spent every Saturday morning this passed Fall doing.

Tab's team, The Cheetahs, weren't exactly very good. They spent most of the time fighting each other for the ball. Tab loved to be the one kicking the ball in.He is such a silly boy. If he was standing in front of someone and wanted them to pass the ball to him, he would put his hands up in the air. I'm not exactly sure what that was about.He is not what you would call aggressive. He is quite fast and would easily get in front of the other kids running down the field and would be in a good position to stop the other team from making breakaway goals. However, he would get it front of them and then doing nothing and let them make their goal. Sigh...maybe next year he'll be more aggressive. So this shot is a rare one. He had the ball and was moving forward with it.On one of the occasions when his team happened to score a goal, they all took the opportunity to celebrate with high-fives and such. Jason caught Tab with the classic "yes, score" move. Notice his right arm in this picture...And here. Can you see the clenched fist and then the elbow drop. Classic...

Benton didn't mind the games too much.But Paisley got kind of sick of going to games. And she usually ended up getting in trouble.Then giving dad the stink eye.