Rebekah Turns 10

 Kenneth braided Rebekah's hair the night before her birthday and he did it so tight that they went Pipi Longstocking on him.

 Hazel gave her some little pink bunnies...

 Abby mader her an apron.

 Nate and Syd gave her some beads.

 Hugs from big brother.

 The crew!

 The Bigger Brother.

I always wear my shinguards to a party! 

Birthday  Spankings.

Chocolate cake and peppermint ice cream.

You Know you need a hair cut when...

All our boys need hair cuts a lot.  I think that boy hair is actually more trouble than girl hair!  Truman was the photographer and so we don't have a pic of him, and Kenneth had his hair cut after Truman went to bed, so no pic of Kenneth.  Truman and Nate combined their pile of hair and challenged Christian to try to have more hair than them.  Somehow Nate and Truman's pile took on the shape of a small dog!  Christian's hair cut produced a pile only a little smaller than The other two boys combined.

It's a bird! It's a Plane!

No!  It's TUBAMAN!

Our friend called and said that Truman would probably want to come see what she had at her house, it involved Tubas.  This is a "costume" called Tubaman.  It is made from Sousaphone bells and bungee cords.  Weird but cool in a tuba player sort of way.  Truman did indeed want to see it and try it on.  Syd went to take pictures of the occasion (and outfit).  Truman said it wasn't very comfortable.

Real Life Returns

Saturday found us watching the State Marching Band Finals.  Dobson looked great.  We really enjoyed watching all the shows one last time.  I love seeing a show at the beginning of the season and then again at the end.  These kids work so hard and it is great to see the improvement over the season. Nate and Hazel are seasoned judges by now, however they are a bit tired of the performances so Kenneth brought Uno cards and they played between performances.  The rule was that as soon as the announcer said "you may take the field" they had to put the cards down.

Veteran's Day Parade

 We went to the parade for two reasons. 1.I love parades. 2.My boys were in it.

The new uniforms look sharp!

 Here is Truman in his Sousaphone. (He is the one on the right.)  "What would Sousa do?"

 Christian, feeling the pain of being in pit, walked along behind.  He is the one right in the middle with a little of the blue streamer in front of him.

 I like the bagpipe players.  I asked Abby if she would still love me if I played the bagpipes.  She said yes.  I think that maybe if she weren't my oboe learning daughter, she might not think bagpipes seem sane.

This little dog was the other highlight of the parade. The dog looked away but it is wearing pink goggles.  Too funny!

Pink is Best!

We made applesauce this weekend from Jonathan apples.  It makes the applesauce pink and yummy!

Just a Little Music for the Sabbath

In case you don't recognize the song, it is I Love to See the Temple

The Costumes

 The little Witch

 Abby the absentminded mad scientist

Nate the Monk

I have gotten lazy and the kids are more independent these days. Nobody wants me to make costumes, and I don't feel too bad about it.  Here are the kids who dressed up and would allow me to photograph them.  Sydney did trick-or-treat but she has decided that she is too old and is planning to pass out candy next year.

Old Fashion Fun

We had a Taffy-Pull at our house.  I wasn't sure how many kids would think it would be fun and actually come.  13 Priests and Laurels came.  We pulled taffy and then they played board games.

 Ligretto

 Apples to Apples

 Here is the taffy.  Blue Raspberry and Cinnamon.

The game in the distance is called Things in a Box.  The taffy in the foreground is honey taffy.

Happy Halloween

Revis Ranch

Kenneth and the 4 oldest kids (and most of the youth and leaders in our ward) went on a backpacking trip Friday night.  Revis Ranch. It is a tough hike, I think it almost 7 miles in and then they camp.  Some years there are apples (not this year, sadly).  The kids all reported on each other and they all did good and had fun. The girls are super tired still today.  While they were gone I painted my livingroom, and that is a post for another day.

 Kenneth is mighty proud of this stool that he made.  He made the seat out of canvas and he lashes some sticks together to make the tripod for it. 

A rose by any other name...

So I have really tried to like brussels sprouts. I can say with confidence "I do not like brussels sprouts!" They are icky.  I have tried them frozen, fresh, dipped in butter and covered in cheese.  Tonight I tried the Cook's Illustrated "Really Good Roasted Brussels Sprouts."  They did look better than usual, especially tossed with the extra butter and toasted walnuts and a splash of lemon juice. I am swearing off Brussels Sprouts forever.  Hazel nearly threw up trying to swallow hers.  It was worth a try. 

Liven up your lunch

We have become notorious for our "Colored Bread".  Somehow it makes holidays more festive when the bread is lively...

Here's how.  I make 1 batch of bread for each color of dough I want to use.  Add the food coloring to the water at the beginning.  It is a nightmare to try to kneed in the food coloring.  Let the dough rise and then divide it up.

Roll the dough out and stack up the colors.

 Roll the whole thing up together. Put it in a pan.

 

Let the dough rise.
 




Cook as usual.

The results can be rather dramatic. 

The sandwiches are dramatic!

ASU Band Day

Christian is down on what would be the track.  Truman is the Sousa on the far left when the show starts.

Magical Mystery Tour

Abby has become very interested in The Beatles.  I have loved them since 9th grade (when I first learned that Julian Lennon's dad was in a band.  Sad huh?)

I have been emptying the entertainment center so that repairs can be made.  The back has come off because we moved it fully loaded a couple of times.  I found all my Beatles albums that I bought on vinyl.  My children were fascinated by the plastic disks that go around and play music.  Truman informed me that vinyl is more accurate than a CD, because is is not digital.  This led to a conversation about pitch correction.  He was really bothered, we agree that it is cheating.

 I was teased when I originally bought the albums.  It was all worth it to stand around with my kids and watch them enjoy it so thoroughly.  (I did also show them how fun it is to play records back at the wrong speed. Like we did as kids.  If only I had captain and Tennille so that we could play Muskrat love really fast.  Those were good times)