Halloween and Fall Photos: “Where You Live”

We had a very fun Halloween.  I had the day off from work which is ALWAYS a good thing.  The big boys were so excited to get in their costumes.

Isaac had a grim reaper costume complete with a face mask that seemed to drip bloody fluid.  I can’t believe we let him get that!  He was under strict instructions not to drip any blood around little kids.  Not only was his mask scary, but he could barely see while wearing it!

Jonny was a racecar driver.  I got Ben a surgeon’s costume at the very last minute for half off at K-mart.  It claimed to be a size 3T-4T, but it was a very tight fit on Ben.  Even the hat was close to the right size for him!  Nate got to wear Ben’s penguin costume from last year.

We went trick or treating up and down our street.  Just a few houses after that, Jonny found a hornet crawling in his hair, and Isaac decided he’d had enough, and wanted to go home.  That was just fine with us!  We spent the rest of the evening handing out candy.

We live in rural central Pennsylvania.  On Sunday we decided to take some outdoor family photos.  Unfortunately, the weather was cold and overcast and didn’t make for great photos.  We should have gone out on Saturday when it was sunny!  Still, quite a few of them turned out well.  We went to a nearby national park; a truly beautiful place.

My dad was visiting and was able to come with us:

Central PA isn’t too bad to live in.  I just wish it was warm year round!

“It’s a good night to look at pumpkins.”

At least that’s what Jonny kept saying as we had our annual pumpkin carving last night.

We bought our pumpkins almost two weeks ago, but because Mark and Isaac went to the Steelers game last weekend, we did most of our carving last night.  Isaac and Jonny did manage to trace their designs last weekend.  Jonny did a great job tracing his own design this year, although I did have to help him cut it out.  Isaac was able to work completely independently for the very first time!  Mark did all the yucky stuff for all of us (i.e. scooping out the pumpkin innards).

Jonathan was so excited!  All the photos I took of him last night are blurred because he was in a state of constant motion.

I found a Gyarados pattern online for myself.  For those not familiar with Pokemon, Gyarados is a flying water-dragon type creature.  I think it turned out well.  Mark did a creepy skull design.

Both Ben and Nate took very well-timed late evening naps allowing us to finish all four.  Here’s the final result:

I love pumpkins!

Happy Easter!

We had a quiet Easter this year.  We went to church, came home, and I took my customary Sunday afternoon nap.  The older boys played video games.

My sister Aliyah came over for Easter dinner.  It was nothing special – scalloped potatoes and ham (and grilled chicken for Aliyah since she doesn’t eat pork).

The ham was one that we got free for accumulating a certain number of “points” at our local grocery store.  It was VERY salty.  Or maybe it wasn’t very good because it’s only the second time I’ve made ham in my life.  In any case, I think it belongs on Mark’s blog even though I cooked it. 

Even though I ruined dinner, we had a good day together has a family, and for that I am grateful.

New Year Popovers

Happy New Year!

We had yet another boring relaxing day at home. Mark made us a delicious roast beef tenderloin for dinner which we ate with green beans and rice pilaf. I didn’t want to make bread today because I felt lazy tired, so I looked through my trusty “Joy of Cooking” for an alternative – something we could eat with butter and honey that wouldn’t take hours to make. I found a recipe for popovers, and we made some. I’ve only had these once before when I was a very young child. They had an interesting taste and texture reminiscent of French toast. We all liked them (Isaac asked for seconds) and we’ll definitely make them again.

I haven’t really thought of too many resolutions for the new year except for one: I’d like to worry less about the future. Anyone else have any resolutions they’d like to share?

If you are interested in having the popover recipe, click below:

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had as enjoyable and relaxing Christmas as we did! Our older two boys were so excited, and couldn’t wait until it was time to go downstairs and open some presents (we told them they had to wait until 8 am, and they were actually very patient). Santa was far more generous than he should have been.

Ben, on the other hand, couldn’t be bothered and slept until the only presents left under the tree were his! Of course, his brothers helped him unwrap them.

Here are Jonny and Isaac in their brand new Legend of Zelda t-shirts. I wonder where Santa found those? Santa brought Isaac a brand new Nintendo DS, and Jonny got an awesome VTech kids’ digital camera (which Santa found at a great price).

Best of all, Isaac missing two front teeth finally started growing in just in time for Christmas!   He is eagerly looking forward to eating corn on the cob again this summer!

More Christmas Tree Photos…

As I mentioned before, we went out and got a Christmas tree on Saturday afternoon. We picked out a beauty, and for some reason Mark had a really difficult time cutting it down. That reason became clear once we got it home. It was huge! It didn’t seem quite so big in the field, but it barely fit in our house! The top was almost touching the ceiling! Mark needed a ladder to put the angel and the lights on it.

We finally got around to decorating it late Sunday evening, even though Isaac and Jonny were begging to get started before Daddy put the lights on the tree.

As usual, we let Isaac and Jonny put on the unbreakable ornaments on the bottom, while Mark and I put the glass ornaments on the top. Every year we buy a new ornament for the tree – something symbolic of the year that is ending. This year we got little soccer ball ornaments and put the boys’ photos in their soccer uniforms in the middle. We always have such a good time reminiscing about past years’ ornaments, especially those from each boy’s first Christmas. We also have an amusing assortment of ornaments the boys have made over the years in preschool and daycare.

Here’s our Christmas tree with its eclectic collection of ornaments. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Halloween!

We had such a nice time! 

Isaac was a very scary skeleton (eventually he found the mask a little uncomfortable), Jonny was Link from the “Legend of Zelda” (but most people thought he was Robin Hood), and Ben was a penguin.  The weather was unseasonably warm, just like it was last year.

Mark took all three boys trick-or-treating this year.  Ben was in a cheery mood, laughing and “talking” up a storm!

The boys got way too much candy.  Mark mentioned something about a parental tax on their takings.  Sounds good to me!

We ran out of candy after an hour and fifteen minutes.  We had chicken noodle soup for dinner, and the boys went to bed exhausted, without a fuss. 

Can’t wait for next year!

A Halloween Tale

Isaac decided to write a Halloween story last week.  Well, it’s sort of “Halloween meets Legend of Zelda”:

Even when he’s not playing video games, he’s still thinking about them!

Preschool Halloween Party

This last Friday was Jonny’s Halloween party at preschool.  I had the day off, so I was lucky enough to be able to go along with Jonny, Mark and Ben.  Isaac asked us to give him the day off from school so he could come too, but we quickly nixed that idea.

Jonny went as Link from the “Legend of Zelda” series of Nintendo video games.  Yes, we are all Zelda geeks in this household (I’ll have to do a post about that sometime).  This costume is actually a hand-me-down; I’d actually made it for Isaac two years ago.  Ben got to wear his costume too:

 

It was a little warm, so we took it off after about 30 minutes.  The party was so much fun.  I enjoyed seeing all the other little kids all dressed up.

 

I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but my mom was visiting from Trinidad these past two weeks.  We didn’t get to spend as much time together as I’d have liked because I worked just about every day she was here, but we all went out to dinner at our favorite Japanese Hibachi restaurant on Friday night.  The food was excellent, and the boys enjoyed the show.  We all had some green tea ice cream for dessert.  Isaac really loves that stuff.  Even Ben had a little taste and didn’t mind it too much even though it was cold.

Mom went back home today, and made it back to Trinidad safe and sound.  We can’t wait until her next visit.

Happy Father’s Day!

 

My husband Mark is an amazing guy.  We’ve been married for 12 years now, and have been parents for almost 7.   When our firstborn son Isaac was only 6 months old, Mark quit his job to be a full time dad.  Six and a half years later, Mark’s still a full time dad, with two more young sons, one of whom has special needs.    Mark manages to hold down the fort, cook, clean, do various home improvement projects, change diapers, manage tube feeds, coordinate physical and occupational therapy sessions, run to gymastics and soccer practice, and amuse the older two and keep them from killing each other every day.  Mark is a wonderful dad, and my best friend, and I am so blessed to be married to him.

We had a busy weekend.

 

On Saturday we went to one of our local state parks for a birthday party.  Isaac splashed in the creek (I had to overcome my natural distaste for murky water and let him have fun with his friends!), and Jonny ate and ate.  Isaac found some minnows in the creek.  Mark thinks they are tadpoles but I disagree.

After that, we went to the older boys’ end of year gymnastics show.  There were three boys in the whole show, and two of them belonged to us!  Isaac doesn’t want to do gymastics next year, and I think it’s because there aren’t too many boys in the class.  It’s too bad, because he is good at it.

Yesterday was Father’s Day, and also we finally had Ben’s baby dedication at church.  Mark had met with our pastor a couple weeks ago to tell him about Ben’s syndrome.  I thought Pastor did a good job yesterday.  He explained CdLS to the congregation, and did a very nice dedication, acknowledging Ben’s special needs, but pointing out that Ben still has a purpose and a ministry here on earth in spite of his disabilities.  

We had a very relaxing Sunday after church, and spent alot of time playing video games, I’m afraid.    Today we haven’t really accomplished much of anything either, but I’m planning to take the boys to the local library as soon as I get off the computer.  

I love being on vacation!