Day 7: Movie nights

Dallin likes Darth Vader. I'm not quite sure how it happened. As much as we love Star Wars, it's not a movie we've shown the boys yet. I think Dallin has seen Darth Vader toys and images enough in stores that he started to like him and now points out Darth Vader everywhere we go. 

I figured it was time to introduce him to the movie. He was so excited all night when we told him we would watch a Darth Vader movie. Mckay warned him that Darth Vader is a bad guy, but Dallin seemed unphased by this information. In fact, while saying the prayer before dinner, Dallin included, "Thank thee for bad guy..." I tried hard to contain my laughter.

We got pajamas, our Star Wars blanket and some Halloween candy and got ready for the movie.

Dallin was so excited I couldn't even convince him to sit down all the way.

This is the reaction when they see Darth Vader on screen for the first time:

You can hear him whine nervously and see him scoot closer to me. I think he was a little startled to see that Darth Vader was more malicious that he expected. But he still enjoyed the movie and I don't think it damped his love for Darth Vader. We had a fun time.

I'm grateful for movie nights. I'm thankful for the chance to snuggle up with my pajama-clad boys and share a favorite classic movie with them.

Day 6: Connor

Today has been one of those day where Connor and I are butting heads on everything. Since I'm having a hard time appreciating his "personality" today, I thought it might be good if I concentrate my gratitude on him.

Connor is a ball of energy. He's constantly moving.

He's always hungry and very resourceful at finding his own food in the kitchen.

Food like the last few drops of lemon juice... And he kept going back for more...

 He's working on some pretty great facial expressions. He has the scowl down.

Connor's really into trains and pretty much anything with wheels. Construction vehicles, garbage trucks, cars: you name it, he can probably identify it.

I've mentioned before that he LOVES books and has a great memory/retention of what's been read to him. 

Here he is reading an ABC book of vehicles. He knows about 80% of this book, from "A is for Ambulance" to "Z is for Zamboni." Hearing him say "Zamboni" makes me smile every time.

Connor find joy in the little things. He knows which streets in town drive over train tracks and requests that I go those directions. He squeals with delight when the car bumpity-bumps over the tracks. Being stopped at a train crossing will normally frustrate me because it's slowing me down or making me late, but it's hard to be mad when Connor is in heaven in the back seat, pointing at every train car.

Connor likes music and likes to sing. Wheels on the Bus has been one of his long time favorites. 

He usually participates in the song more than this, so he must have been camera shy.

He's watched me play the piano enough times that he has it all figured out.

By the way, "Old McDonald" and "Twinkle Twinkle" are songs I rarely sing to them. I wouldn't be surprised if he heard it once and has remembered the words since then.

Same with this one:

Ok, so maybe I do catch myself singing this song around the house a lot.

I love hearing Connor talk. Not only does he mimic and repeat words, but he puts together his own words and thoughts. It is so fun to watch Dallin and Connor communicate with each other.

I can't wait to see the young man that Connor grows up to be. He has a great memory, a sharp mind and he's a fast learner. He is as stubborn as can be, which is really difficult at times, but I can only hope it will make him a determined person who doesn't quit and sticks to his tasks. I'm so grateful for the two years I've spent with Connor so far. I'm grateful that I get to be his mother.

Day 5: Beef Stew

For our dinner tonight, I tried out two new recipes. I made Beef Stew and buttermilk biscuits.

(from chindeep.com)

(from Simply So Good)

Ok, so I didn't take these pictures. Trust me, my food looked every bit as delicious, but was not photographing well in my dark kitchen at night. So I thought I'd let you see the yummy pictures that got me to try these recipes in the first place. That, and my sister Julie makes these biscuits so they must be good.

I was really excited to try this crock pot Beef Stew recipe. Mckay is not a big fan of soups and I'm mostly ok with that. But sometimes, on a cold, winter night, you just need to cozy up with a hot bowl of something and a delicious bread. I figured Mckay might like Beef Stew because it's essentially pot roast, with carrots and potatoes and gravy. What's not to love?! It's "manly" soup. The stew did not disappoint. The broth is rich and flavorful, the meat was tender and falling apart. Mckay said it's a winner that can enter the regular dinner line-up for winter. High praise.

The biscuits were fluffy and tall. Mine are usually flat and dense, so this one's a keeper too.

I am grateful for new recipes. I'm glad that I like to try new things. I'm glad I'm capable in the kitchen so that I feel confident to attempt new recipes.

I'm grateful for food bloggers who share their tasty recipes with me. I'm grateful for the chefs/cooks out there, whether trained professionally or on the "job," who experiment and test recipes so that I can enjoy the finished product.

I'm grateful for my Crockpot. We somehow never got a Crockpot as a wedding gift, so Mckay's parents gave us an old one that they didn't use anymore. This crock pot has got to be 20 years old. The crock does not remove from the heating base which makes it a pain to clean, and it takes a little longer to cook things in it. I keep hoping that something will happen to it so I can justify buying a new one, but this darn, wonderful crockpot just keeps on working.

Day 4: Temples

For Family Home Evening tonight, we talked about temples. We're going to the temple in Chicago this Saturday, so it seemed like a timely lesson. (For more information about temples, click here.) We made temples out of playdoh for our activity.

Each person chose a picture of a different temple and then constructed a copy out of playdoh.

(I love the boys' faces in this picture!!!)

 Can you guess the locations of these temples we made?

For my lesson, I laid out an individual picture of each member of our family. Then I had the boys close their eyes and I removed one picture to see if they could figure out who was missing. We did that several times. Then I told them that because our family is sealed in the temple, we get to be together forever and no one will ever have to be missing or gone. That knowledge is a great comfort to me; to know that no matter what happens on this earth, I will get to see my family again. Today, I am grateful for temples.

Day 3: Skype

I am grateful for Skype. Since we live so far away from family (with our closest family being 1000 miles away), it can be difficult to travel to see family all the time. But with Skype, we are able to talk to and see our family more often. It's not as great as an in-person visit, but it's still pretty cool.

Tonight, we skyped with Mom and Dad Easton. Dallin and Connor love their Grandmas and Grandpas are are excited for any opportunity to see them.

On a similar note, I'm grateful for phones, internet, blogs, and any way that allows us to keep in instant contact with our family. We are loving this time we have to spend in Indiana, but it is hard being far away from our wonderful families. I'm grateful for technology that allows us to be close while far away.

Day 2: Saturdays

Today, I am grateful for Saturdays. We are so busy every other day of the week that sometimes Saturday is the only day we really have to be together as a family. It's nice to be able to relax for a day and not do any housework. This Saturday was a little extra special because a Lego Expo was in town. Dallin is all about Legos right now, so we knew he would really enjoy it. I didn't realize how much Connor would love it too.

This is Connor's "I-love-what-I-am-doing-so-much-that-I-can't-move-or-show-any-emotion" face. Also seen on the rides at the Mall of America.

These were remote controlled Lego cars. People could take turns driving a car along the course. Connor got to have a turn.

There were tons of cool Lego displays. Here is chess board.

These Mindstorm pieces were moved by computer and played a real game of chess as we watched.

There were large buildings and castles.

And displays complete with mini figure people. 

Dallin was really excited to see a Darth Vader Lego guys about 18 inches tall.

And a matching Vader mini figure by his feet. (Zoom in to see.)

 There were a few interactive play areas for the kids.

There was also a big folding table with the smaller, regular size Legos on it to play with, but Dallin had a hard time reaching those.

 Connor spent two hours straight here playing with blocks. Well, he was really playing with the trains, cars and any Duplo vehicles with wheels.

The boys loved our Lego Saturday.

We finished the day off with going out for dinner. We had a particularly bad experience on this outing with our waitress and waiting waaaaay too long for our food, but I'm trying to be positive here....., so I'll just say I'm grateful any time I don't have to do the dishes or clean up after a meal.

And it was really cute watching Connor eat ribs.

I'm grateful for a day to spend with my family.

30 days of Graditude

It is now November, the month of Thanksgiving! I've made a goal to blog every day in the month of November about something I am grateful for. I've noticed how much happier I feel when I concentrate on things I have been blessed with, instead of things that I don't have.

Today, I am thankful for holidays. Yesterday was Halloween and we had a really fun holiday. It started with our ward Trunk or Treat on Wednesday. There was a costume parade around the gym.

This is the only picture of Mckay's costume that I managed to get. Any guesses?

He's a man on a windy day. See the newspaper stuck to his leg? And there was an inverted umbrella to go with the costume too. Pretty clever.

One of the cars in the Trunk-or-treat was decorated with a pirate theme with the people and dogs dressed at pirates. 

The kids got to dig in the sand for buried "treasure" with a number on it, and that told how many pieces of candy each child would get.

On Halloween day, Dallin had a "fall" party at preschool. To make it non-scary, they requested that everyone dress as a book character or an occupation. Dallin dressed up as Handyman.

He called himself "Handy Manny" from the Disney channel show.

I love his pose, with one foot up.

For dinner, we made homemade pizza. I usually make this once a week, but this time we made individual pizzas and I let the boys make their own.

Growing up, we often had mini english muffin pizzas and clam chowder on Halloween night. Others have remarked on that being a weird dinner combination, but it sounds perfectly normal to me! 

I turned on a Pandora Halloween station and we listened to spooky music while we made dinner. Connor was really good about putting the toppings on the pizza, but Dallin kept sneaking bites of olives and pepperoni. And cheese.

 After dinner, we got the boys dressed in costumes.

Dallin brought back the Mariachi player from Cinco de Mayo. Connor was Batman. I realize that it's not an accurate costume with the red cape and blue eye mask, but Connor liked it. He got these Batman pajamas for his birthday. He LOVES them and wants to wear them all the time, so we let it be his Halloween and costume and dressed it up with his cape and mask, also from his birthday.

 It was a wet, rainy day, but it managed let up for a few hours in the evening for trick or treating.

Connor loved splashing through the puddles as we walked from house to house. Both boys did really well and had a lot of fun. One of the last houses we stopped at had an animatronic skeleton/zombie guy with a motion sensor so it moved when you approached the house. The sensor wasn't working well so it didn't turn on to scare the boys. Good. But the middle aged woman passing out the candy thought it would be a good idea to activate the skeleton and show it to my very young children who already seemed apprehensive about it. (She may have been drunk...) All the skeleton did was lift his head and move an arm, but that was enough for both boys to clutch me in terror, and Connor screamed and cried. I carried him the next 20 houses til we got home. He managed to stop crying, but would still whimper every minute or so, "Skeleton...get....me..." I told him he could eat a few pieces of candy and that seemed to cheer him up.

This is their combined stash from trunk-or-treat, preschool party and Halloween night.

 They kept finding and opening more candy. In this picture, Connor has two suckers in his mouth at once. Later in the night he had three at once. 

Watching a Thomas the Tank Engine Halloween movie and eating candy: this boy is in heaven!

Even though I'm not a big Halloween person, I like the opportunity to do something different. Life can get kind of dull sometimes, so I like to have holidays and new seasons to get excited about. It's fun to decorate and plan out costumes. It makes a regular weekday meal more exciting. It gets me to loosen up and do fun things with my children. I'm glad that we have holidays.