More Halloween Party

Even though it is almost Advent, we'll share some more Halloween party pictures. (click on the picture to make it bigger)

Here are the grandparents of our children. Is it any wonder that the kids are a bit quirky? :)

Grandpa and Grandma Bradbury are a gorilla and a witch, and Grandma and Grandpa Redhage are a pioneer woman and Moses. Moses's staff can double as Little-Bo-Peep's crook, so it's pretty handy. The kids really enjoyed seeing the grown-ups act so silly.

Today we'll add a new feature to the blog, entitled, "You Can Make That Again!"

We'll share recipes that have earned that designation from the Redhage men.

Our first recipe: Homemade Tortillas

3 c. unbleached flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

4-6 T. shortening or lard (we used Crisco)

about 1 c. warm water

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.

Mix in shortening with hands.

Add water a little at a time until dough is soft but not sticky. Knead a few minutes.

Pull into 12 little dough balls (divide half, half again, then thirds)

Let rest for at least 10 min. while you heat up skillet to medium heat.

Roll out each ball fairly thin, dusting with flour as needed.

Lay, one at a time, on ungreased skillet (I used cast iron) for about 30 sec., flipping over when one side has brown speckles.

Place in towel or tortilla warmer until serving.

We had these with ham, turkey, cheese, and honey mustard for lunch. The extras became Nutella (chocolate hazelnut) roll-ups! When the meal was over, David declared that Mexico sure has some great food. I agree!

Sleepy little boy talk

Tonight after the recital, David was having a little bit of trouble getting settled down for sleep. He asked me to come into his room because there were scary shadows and it was just too dark. After I came in and we talked for a while, he said, "Mom, I will love you until the end of the world. I love you for nine thousand hundred Valentine's Days, and also the days in between. Did you know that there used to be scary pictures of monsters with pumpkins for heads on my wall? Now I can see a new picture of a little boy, and he is hugging his mommy, and there are hearts flying everywere! Also, there used to be a skeleton in my bed beside me, and that made me scared. Now it has turned into a Christmas tree! You can leave anytime you want now."
That made me smile. :)

Violin Recital

David played The Flower Song in a violin recital in Vermillion tonight! The main Suzuki teacher there will be retiring at the end of the year, so called last week to see if I would be interested in taking any of her students and if David would like to play on her students' solo recital tonight. David was in her week-long beginning violin camp in September, so he knew several of the other little ones there tonight. We had a great time!

Sarah and Michael sat very well through the concert, with a lot of help from Daddy. :)

David got to play fairly close to the beginning of the recital, and spent the rest of the time coloring under the pew (it was in an Episcopal church) very nicely.

We don't have any pictures yet, as we forgot our camera, but one of the other moms recorded it for us and will bring pictures or video to our next library storytime.

Here's a picture of the beginning violin group class in September. Mrs. Lipp and I are helping David get his bowhold ready for a bow march parade.

Dan's creative project

After listening to one of David's favorite car ride songs over and over again, Dan was inspired to create this video. It features Frenzy, one of the robots from the new Transformers movie. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as he enjoyed creating it. :)

Click here to see Dan's YouTube video. Frenzy Video

Counting

On Sunday evening, David was pretty wound up, so Dan sent him outside with a kitchen timer to see how many times he could go up and down the slide in five minutes. We were working on supper or something, and Dan went out after a few minutes to see how he was doing. David was frantically climbing up the steps and zooming down the slide as fast as he could go, panting and stumbling, but still counting, "Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, NINETY-TEN!!!!! NINETY-ELEVEN!!!!" The abacus only goes up to 100, and I guess we've never discussed what happens after that! David does love the abacus.

Building a Road

A crew came by a couple of weeks ago and started paving our road! Hooray! They just did one big rectangle over the potholes in front of our house, but it is a start. Our street has been a muddy mess for over a year now due to a city-wide sewer overhaul, and it is nice to see blacktop again. The kids and I watched from an upstairs window so we had a good view of the work. David usually doesn't like people messing with our street, but he didn't mind this too much since there was also a cute little steamroller.

Our New Futon! David and Sarah are testing out our new Target clearance bargain futon in the playroom. It is a perfect fit for the room, so we now have a guest bed as well. Oh--the kids found the flower and banana costumes in a box from Fort Wayne; they are not usually dressed this way.

Michael Speaks!

Today the kids played outside in the beautiful weather for quite a while, but eventually got tired and came inside to watch football with Daddy. While they were watching, a commercial came on with a whale leaping out of the ocean. Michael pointed and said, "FISH!" Dan said something like, "Good job, Michael! It does look like a fish, but it is actually a mammal." Very quickly, David added, "That is because it breathes air. Do you see its breathe tube?"

We are not a normal family. We are, however, happy that Michael has decided to speak to us!

Michael can point to most body parts when you ask him to. He is good at tummy, head, nose, and toes. Ears are confusing, though. When he doesn't know where something is, he points to his armpit and asks, "Here?"

Here are Michael and Sarah making funny sounds by humming into straws in a plastic cup.

Our Costumes

Here we have the three little trick-or-treaters getting ready to leave the house on Halloween.
David is a Transformer who changes from a robot to a radio. Sometimes he is Bumblebee, and sometimes he is Snugbot GTS. Either way, he is a good guy, as you can see by the Autobot symbol on his tummy.
Sarah is a butterfly or fairy princess. She really likes to wear her dance clothes and butterfly wings whether it is Halloween or not.
Michael is a little lion. He actually got pretty good at "roaring" while wearing that costume. The hood kept his ears nice and warm when we were outside.

Halloween Fun

Here are the children opening their Boo Bags from Grandma and Grandpa Redhage. They really liked the skeleton straws! Sarah and Michael spent quite a bit of time making "whoo" sounds into one of the green cups that afternoon.

We had a fun time at David's Halloween party Sunday night. Many of his favorite people came to the party, and we got to see some pretty funny grandparent costumes! Keep watching for those photos...