"Decorate the House with Christmas Lights....

Snow's on the ground, snow white so bright.

In the fireplace is the Yule Log,

Beneath the mistletoe as we drink eggnog."

That title is a line from a Run DMC Christmas rap. Aren't I cool?

Anyways.... This year I asked Tyler to put up the Christmas lights. He likes heights and Todd didn't have the time this year so it made sense. He recruited Ryan and they got on OK start. I went out to check on them and started to rethink this plan. They were like 2 monkeys hanging from the edge of the porch roof and standing on the railing! They, being directly below the lights, couldn't see what they were doing so I took up the job of guiding/bossing and eventually it all got done. When we were building this house I imagined how goregous it was going to be with lights hanging from the roof, gables, porch, lining the driveway and sidewalk. That is just not going to happen. This is enough. Until next year - Tyler says he'll do the whole house up right if I buy the lights.But this. This is not too bad. Especially when I got 2 teenage boys excited about helping.

Thanksgiving in Kansas

Pioneer Woman Cooks!

I went with my walking buddies, Tracie & Tanner, to see the Pioneer Woman in Kansas City when she stopped there on her book signing tour. Her new cookbook is really great. I've tried a few recipes and have many more marked to try soon. While we waited, they gave us brownies with chocolate frosting - see how Tanner loved them? We got our books signed and took pictures then went to Five Guys for lunch. I had never heard of them before, but it was really yummy.The burgers were huge and the fries would have fed both of our families! Thanks for the fun day out!

A Big 'Ol Pile of Money

Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but this year was different for us. Tyler was at an all day band festival (got all Superiors - go WaRu Band!) so he didn't dress up or go Trick-or-Treating. Ryan wasn't going to dress up either, but at the last minute (literally) before we left for the Ward Trunk-or-Treat party, he threw together bits of past costumes. He's a nut.

He calls it SanNinjaPotterLizardStein on Crutches.

On the other hand, Justin has been planning this costume since last year. He loved an investment company's commercial showing a guy going through his day with his pile of money following him around. Justin immediately decided that that was an awesome idea for a Halloween costume. Unfortunately, we couldn't find affordable play money in time for Halloween 2008. But he reminded me early this year that he still wanted to be a pile of money. So $10 for 1500 pieces of play money + $7 for electrical cable + $4 for spray paint + $3 for glue sticks + free old sheet + free hula hoop + 10 burned fingertips =

1 Happy Boy in a Pile of Money costume.
Priceless.


He even won the Most Creative Award at the party!

At one point during the handing out of the candy, Todd was tossing candies to Justin. Justin stumbled backwards and fell. He just laid there on the ground with his costume up over his head. (I busted up laughing and wondered if it would be bad to take a picture.) Then in typical Justin fashion, he moans, "I'm OK." This is the funniest kid. Everyone in the parking lot was watching to see if he was getting up alright and Sis. Hansen said, "Uh-oh. It's the collapse of the financial market!" I almost lost it.

After the party the boys went through the nieghborhood with their buddies and Todd & I went home to pass out candy. It was weird and we kept thinking how the boys are really growing up. Halloween is still fun, but in a different way than when the boys were little. We didn't even carve a single pumpkin this year! One things the same - Candy, candy, candy!

Friday Night Lights

Last Friday night was Tyler's Marching Band's last football game of the year. I think he's a little sad that it's over. I'm proud that he did so well. I tried all season to get a good picture of Tyler in his band uniform and never got one.

It was impossible to find him in this group. There are 215 kids in our band!

He's up there somewhere. Earlier in the season, I videoed their whole show focusing on Tyler. He was doing so great and I was so happy I found him and we were sitting in the perfect spot to see him during the whole show. Then when they were done, I realized it wasn't Tyler. It wasn't even a trumpet player. Anyone out there have a tromboner they want a 15 minute video of? Duh.

This is the band at the top getting ready to take the field as soon as those dancers get out of the way. I have no idea where Tyler is. I did video this time (still can't get video onto my blog) and I watched another wrong kid the whole time. They just don't stand still long enough!

And we froze in the stands. Fortunately, it was a short night for the band so we left at halftime. I'm glad they are done for the year - it's just too cold! It was really cool to see how the band improved over a few months and watching Tyler grow into it. He's glad for a break - 2 hrs. of marching every day is hard work! - and he's already talking about next year!

Farmer's Market & Fall Color

A few weeks ago, Todd was in China and we needed something to do. So we went to the Farmer's Market. It's been several years since I've gone and we didn't know what they'd have so late in the year. We bought 2 huge bunches of broccoli, 2 garlic bulbs, 10 fresh warm tortillas, 1 butternut squash, 1 Amish cheese bread, 1 Waterfall Restaurant cinnamon roll, and 12 apple cider doughnuts. We obviously gravitate towards the yummy baked goods. So much for healthy eating! But it was a good outing and I'll definitely be back next summer for the fresh produce!

On the way there, we kept pointing out all the beautiful trees that were finally changing colors. All those gorgeous leaves are gone now, but look how pretty they were for a few days!

Fall Soccer

Justin just finished the fall soccer season. He's been playing for years and he really likes it. His team was almost, nearly, completely undefeated. (They don't officially keep score, but the kids all know which teams wins. They had one tied game and the rest were wins.) When the older brothers were playing, their teams gave trophies to the kids. None of Justin's teams have given trophies, just medals or ribbons. But this time.....

a trophy, baby!! Score.

Our Final Landform Project

Justin, the baby of the family, choose to make islands for his 4th grade landform project. Ryan made a plaster Grand Canyon. And although none of us can remember what Tyler did for his project, I know we made something! Something playdough? Anyways, this is our last one. Thank goodness. As usual, the project was left undone until the last possible weekend. Todd helped Justin sculpt the islands. They even got fancy and made a lake on the island with a little island in it. Then Justin baked and painted them. Then (after watching too many Food Network Challenges and thinking this would be so easy) we made hard candy and colored it blue and poured it in the pan around the islands for the water. It was a mess and it was harder to do than we thought, but we made it work. The islands have water. Justin was happy. He ate the extra blue candy. I'm happy. It's done.

I Love Fall

Is it the cooler weather? The gorgeous leaves on the trees? The looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas? No.

It's the pumpkin. All kinds of pumpkin. Breads, pies, bars, cookies, and now these: Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting from the Pioneer Woman.

And I can't cook anything without at least one man-child climbing on the counters, asking "What are you making? Is it for us? When will it be done? Can I have some now?"

Yes. Have some. They are delicious.

Rub a Dub Dub

Justin asked if he could play in our big tub. I said yes, but don't make a mess. About 1/2 an hour later I realized I hadn't heard any noises coming from the bathroom for a while so I peeked in and cracked up. He had all his clothes on! I asked him why didn't he wear his swimsuit and he said he didn't think about it. I assume he was just so excited about playing with his toys in the water that he forgot to get undressed. What a boy.


When I came back in a little later, Ryan was in the tub too. He at least had a swimsuit on. I guess this is how a teenage boy has some good clean fun.

Ryan Is a TEENAGER!! (also titled "I Am a Terrible Mom")

Ryan's birthday was on Oct. 9th. He turned 13!! He was sooo excited to be a teenager. We gave him a pile of presents - a basketball, a stopwatch, gum, a book, a few shirts, a chin-up bar, and his coveted Wii game. He was very mature and waited until about 10pm to open them so that we could all be there. He asked for, & I made, homemade cheesecake for his birthday cake. Ryan is an amazing boy. All boy. He is happy and talented and athletic and smart. And I couldn't be prouder to be his mom.

Disclaimer: I've tried to get this post up about Ryan's birthday, but I would forget and get sidetracked. It's been on my written list of things to do - I just couldn't seem to get it done. This is entirely my fault and in no way means that I love Ryan less than his brothers (whose birthdays were documented in a timely manner).

Happy Birthday, Ryan Boy!

He's HOW Old?

Tyler's birthday is today and he is FIFTEEN!!! I can't believe it. He's a great kid and we are soo proud of him. He had a pile of presents to open this morning and I think he likes everything he got. Between conference sessions we went to the park for a picnic with some other families and I took a few birthday shots of our "baby boy". He's looking more and more grown up lately.

He's getting so tall too! For dinner he asked for "straight spaghetti with red sauce". That's been his favorite dinner since he was a toddler. But now he also likes meatballs. And he wanted chocolate cake, so I used my friend Minnie's secret recipe and we had a feast!

Happy birthday Tyler! You are an amazing boy and such a blessing in our life! Love you, baby boy!