Halloween Fun

I know this post is coming late, but better late than never...I say.

On the Friday before Halloween, our zoo had a special hours where toddlers/preschoolers could wear their costumes, trick or treat, get their face painted, and do other Halloween activities. I don't remember what those other activities were because Josh wasn't interested in doing anything besides seeing the animals. The first thing Josh wanted to do once we got to the zoo was take his costume off. After much persuasion, I got him to pose for a picture or two before taking it off.

Based on how Josh didn't like wearing the skeleton costume at the zoo and how much Caleb and Josh love running around with capes, I was planning on Josh and Caleb going to our ward's "Trunk or Treat" as Supermen or Spidermen. Nate noticed, however, in the stash of costumes we got from his mom that we had a bat costume...
Needless to say, Caleb was the cutest bat I'd ever seen.

Like last year, we loved our pumpkin. Mom, Dad, Josh, and Caleb all took turns scraping out the innards.


This year I made Halloween pillowcases for candy bags. They worked well. We'll see how many years we'll use them. I hope as long as there are Wright kids to use them.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Another trip to the beach...among other things

I wouldn't normally post again about going to the beach, but JOSH WENT IN THE WATER!!!

I was so excited. He had such a good time and was disappointed when it was time to go. Having no fear of water opens up a whole new dimension of what you can do at a beach.

My children love going to the zoo. They do like the animals, but sometimes I wonder if they only like going because of the playground they have there.

The playground is next to the children's petting zoo. The roosters like to take walks on the wild side.

From Dress to Shirt

I bought this dress last summer at a garage sell for $2. I didn't have a good undershirt for it and never took the time to find one. And the bottom of the dress was a little weird for me, so I never wore it. I had it in my donate to the poor bag, but never got around to taking it to a donating clothes box.

However...

My sister sent me this blog address, a blog about a girl who is making/revamping 365 "new" outfits, over 365 days, for $365, and I felt inspired to recycle the dress into something that I might actually wear.

I already knew I'd make it into a shirt. I went to Hobby Lobby and found some black cotton jersey on clearance. Originally, I wanted to add a solid black strip to make a high waist, but it didn't look right. I unpicked it and just used the black jersey to make the appearance of layering.

What was the result? A light weight, knit shirt. I wouldn't necessarily wear it with those pants, but...you get the idea.

I'm still not sure if I'll wear it around. I did some tweaking with the sleeves that you can't tell in the picture that didn't come out exactly right. But Hey!!! It was fun trying things out.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

While I was watering my plants, my children were...

At times I think there is such a thing as too much fun.

Galveston

Galveston, TX doesn't have the most beautiful beaches ever. In fact, I saw more dead fish there than I have seen in all my live, but did that get us down?

Heck, No!



We had a blast working in the sand.

Josh and Caleb had no desire to get near the water. I'm not sure why Caleb was nervous about it, but Josh didn't want to be swallowed by a big fish like Jonah.

What should a 27 year old look like?

In a children's manners book I was reading to Josh, it read that you should always brush your hair before meals. I've been trying to remember to do it ever since (especially for dinner when hubby's home).

My cake is the other half of the birthday cake I made for Nate. It's been frozen (undecorated) for 4 months. It tasted like it had been frozen for 4 months, too. I won't do that again...at least for mine and Nate's birthdays. It worked for Josh's and Caleb's, though. Their birthday's are only a month apart.

I have eight candles on my cake. The blue one in the center equals 20 and the rest are worth 1 each. Isn't 27 the awesomest number ever...3x3x3? I love cubes

Birthdays are much more fun when your three year old is more excited for your cake and presents than you are.

Helping in the Kitchen

They may not exactly help in the kitchen, but they sure make making cookies more fun.

Brenham

There's a town in between Houston and Austin, TX. The town is called Brenham. My sister-in-law, Heather, an Austinite, has hung out with me, a Houstonite, in the town of Brenham twice. The first time we only had one child each. Now, we each have two, she having a third little one on the way.

First, we went to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Plant and had lunch and ice cream.

Then, we went to a park and played.

We all sure had a good time.

Had to Show...

First picture: to commemorate Caleb's first time in a white shirt and tie.

Second picture: to prove, yes, he does have a neck.

We like summer

Josh and Caleb watching Thomas the Tank Engine. The TV screen is showing the very beginning of a Thomas DVD. Caleb won't be sitting there for much longer. Josh will be staying in the chair, but running to me wherever I'm at in the apartment to tell me what's going on.

Two happy boys!!!

One happy boy! The other? Well... The next time we went Caleb stuck his hand in the pool to splash some. Baby steps.

An absent nose, blenders and hot chocolate

Nate was working at the hospital today. That made church interesting for me, but I managed to keep Caleb from escaping the pew and Josh being too disruptive. I don't always get to stop Josh from letting everyone know how many deacons are lined up to pass the sacrament, though.

During dinner, we were pointing to everyone's nose, and Josh said, "Dad's nose is not here."

Last week, I made a penne, Italian sausage, and bell peppers dish. How did I manage to get my family to eat it? I put the bell peppers, onions, and tomato sauce in the blender and pushed puree, and when Nate asked what was for dinner, I said, "A pasta dish."

On Thursday, as I was trying to keep up with Josh running from the library's main entrance to the children's computer, a book caught my eye. The title?

Hot Chocolate

I have a hard time thinking of a food or drink that I love better.

In the cookbook, a guy, Michael Turback, compiled recipes from cafes across the country and from Europe. The recipes are obviously a bit more exotic. They call for whole milk, half-n-half, or heavy cream and don't call for powdered cocoa, but ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet or they specifically say what percentage of cacao is recommended. Some recipes call for ground chipotle chile, cayenne pepper, paprika, bay leaves, or fennel seeds. Pretty weird. They're some cool ones in there...Malted Hot Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Black Bottom Hot Chocolate (fudge on the bottom), Hot butterscotch with white chocolate, Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, to name a few...

Well, I've tried only one recipe so far, the Caramel Hot Chocolate, but I had to tweak it to fit the ingredients I have at home. The recipe has you make the caramel from cooking sugar, water, and heavy cream. Then, you add 2 tablespoons of that caramel sauce to the chocolate mixture of 1 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate melted in 5/8 cup whole milk (yes, the recipe really did say 5/8 cup). I personally don't have heavy cream and bittersweet chocolate lying around, so I added 2 tablespoons of my Kroger brand caramel sauce (left over from a brownie recipe I tried) to my Kroger brand hot chocolate mix and regular milk, and how did it taste? Carmaelly Wonderful!!!

Somebody who borrowed this book before me wrote "Awesome" on the recipe for Nutella Hot Chocolate. Unfortunately, Nutella isn't something I buy regularly, or I would have tried it already. The book says that Nutella was created by an Italian during World War II as an economical alternative to chocolate. It's a blend of hazelnuts, cocoa butter, and vegetable oils, so using Nutella would give hot chocolate a hazelnutty flavor.

Here's the recipe

3/4 cup whole milk
2 heaping tablespoons Nutella
Basic whipped cream for serving

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, bring the milk to a simmer. Add the Nutella and stir with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended. Pour into a mug and garnish with a dollop of whipped cream. Serve immediately. Makes 1 serving.

A Lot Has Happened

A lot of things have happened since I last posted. Namely...

Joshua turned three.

It's funny that when I took the picture, I didn't think to move the cake so that all three candles were showing.

Joshua loves Thomas the tank engine, train tracks, the zoo, laughing with Caleb, parks, being dad's helper, doing dishes (a.k.a. playing with water), running, singing, reading, wrestling with Caleb, play doh, cooking with Mom, ice cream, Lighting McQueen, trucks, Bob the Builder, climbing, coloring, and mass destruction.

He's new thing is to randomly start reciting/singing nursery rhymes. Interestingly, he does Mary, Mary, quiet contrary the most often. I am not sure why.

Story time with Nana

We were at my parents in Ohio for Christmas. Our entire family was there. What fun we had!!!

Growing up, my mom loved giving us matching P.J.'s on Christmas Eve. I'm grateful she doesn't buy matching PJ's for us anymore (except my little sister), but for our children. They looked really cute. The boys got the green and white stripes that my two boys are wearing, and the girls got the red nightgown that my little sister, Rebekah who's eleven, is wearing.

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

What a smile!!! He's such a smiley little guy. Nate's been saying that if you ever have a bad day, just look at Caleb. Now, he's walking oftentimes with a huge smile on his face and his hands waving in the air. He does say "Mamama" and "dadada," but I doubt he knows exactly what they mean. What he does do is growl/purr when he holds the little toy lion. He imitates Josh when he plays.

It was fun to celebrate his first birthday in the beginning of January. He liked the cake better than the ice cream which is unlike Josh, who won't eat cake at all if ice cream is next to it.

Nate Update

Nate's in his medicine rotation in medical school. What does that mean? I'm not exactly sure. A patient he was working with for a while only had half a brain...literally half a brain. The other half got taken out after the guy's car accident three years ago. Anyway...it's not what Nate wants to specialize in. He's still thinking about anaesthesiology.

What am I doing?

Besides being MOM, I'm not doing much. I made a skirt a couple weeks ago. The fabric, pattern, and notions all cost just under $16. I'm writing a little, a very little.

I'm surprised at how much time potty training takes up in the day. Josh is doing pretty well. He successfully went without a diaper during church last Sunday. I'm still not brave enough to try having Josh diaperless through the night. From talking to others, I've realized, though, that like daytime potty training, there's no real magic to nighttime training. You just have to bite the bullet and do it, dang it, and know that you'll have to clean up messes in the process.