Stir Crazy

This last week we had October Break - translated... no school on Thursday & Friday!

Which, actually, we love - everyone needs a break! However, since I'm still not feeling super great our plans consisted of a nice long weekend at home! Not quite as exciting as the kids had hoped, but riding bikes, roller blading and watching movies can be fun... right?!?
Well, needless to say by Friday afternoon my three bundles of energy needed a diversion or they were all headed for the longest "time out" of their lives.

So, after a few minutes of thinking, grabbing a snack to help my stomach settle, and snagging some quarters out of the change jar - we headed out the door to "Dollar Tree."

We bought a white plastic tablecloth and some black yarn... here's how $2 saved the day!

First, you cut your white tablecloth into 12 pieces.

Then, you wad up a piece of newspaper

(we already have plenty of that on hand).

Next you put your paper in the center of your plastic to form a head.

Now tie your head in place with a piece of black yarn.

Then, draw scary faces on each of your creations & attach a piece of yarn on top.

Most importantly, work together to hang them outside for everyone to see...

And in the end you have 12 spooky ghosts and 3 happy boys!

Happy Halloween!

Yes For Marriage

Here in Arizona we are working on Proposition 102 - that marriage is only between one man and one woman.

This is not new for us - we were involved in the same type of proposition when we lived in California.

The great thing about this time around is that the kids are learning from this experience as well.

First they are learning to become involved in the community and stand-up for what they feel is right.

Second they are learning that when you throw your heart in to something - it can be broken. The sign they are standing by is actually our second sign. We had our first sign out for one day (and the kids were so proud of it, they were pointing it out to everyone - Bubba even made sure his bus driver saw and read the sign). The next morning we found that someone had stolen our sign and our neighbor's sign. All of us were very upset!

So, our third lesson is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We explained that even though we want to vote yes on this proposition other people don't like it and want to vote no. But that's the great thing about living in the United States - everyone can express their opinion. However, you should not do things that are dishonest to express it. We taught the kids that whoever stole our sign has every right to put a sign in their yard that says vote no, but that stealing it was not the right thing to do because that is dishonest and breaking the laws of the land.

So now we have our second sign, we're learning lessons, the kids are very interested in the upcoming election... we'll see what happens next!

Our Pumpkin Time of Year

October and November are our pumpkin months. We have several traditions that involve eating pumpkin in one form, or another - and it's been a lot of fun.

Tonight we had Pumpkin Casserole! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
6 cups pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (two pie pumpkins are plenty)
2 cups water
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 Pkg. stuffing mix
1/2 cup melted margarine

Combine pumpkin in water in a saucepan; bring to a boil and simmer for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Combine stuffing mix with the melted margarine and place half of it into a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish. Place the drained and cooked pumpkin on the stuffing mix and top with a mixture of the sour cream, soup, onion, and carrots. Add remaining stuffing mix on the top. Bake at 350 degrees F 25-30 minutes.

And voile you have a very yummy pumpkin dinner!

Just a note: Pumpkins best for eating are the smaller pumpkins that are also darker in color - they will taste sweeter than a pumpkin you would use to make a Jack-O-Lantern.

Also, don't forget to save your seeds! We always toast ours so we can have a tasty little snack for later.

Being Polite

Our speech homework for the week - we're still working on

being polite.

It's amazing, when you really start to focus on the politeness level in the house, how often we are not polite.

I've noticed our family often remembers to say, "please" and "thank you" at the table and we're pretty good at saying we're sorry if someone gets hurt or we mess something up. Our biggest issue - I've found that all of us are constantly telling each other what to do - instead of asking each other for what we need.

For me it's been a huge spiritual insight. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints it comes down to the very basics of our religion - The Plan of Salvation or Plan of Happiness (click here for more info). For the plan to work we needed a savior and we had two choices - Satan who wanted to tell all of us what to do, and our Savior - Jesus Christ - who knew we needed agency so we could have the opportunity of making our own choices.

So as we go around our home trying to remember to say things like, "please turn the music down" (offering a choice) instead of "turn the music off now!" (no choice). I am thankful to have these helpful reminders in my life of how our family can follow Christ's example.

Who knew Asperger Syndrome would turn out to be such a spiritual experience?

Watching From Our Tent

In Primary the boys were encouraged to "pitch their tents" for General Conference following the example of the people who came to hear King Benjamin speak in the Book of Mormon. So that's exactly what the kids did.

I enjoyed the Conference Sessions as a whole, but three talks that stood out for me were Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin - talking about being happy and remembering to laugh, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland - angels in our lives and Elder Russell M. Nielsen - on marriage.

I am looking forward to getting the Ensign next month so I can read all of it again!

Bubba's Healthy Again

Bubba was sick earlier this week so he missed two days of school - he was davastated!

So yesterday and today he's been doing little dances for me to prove he is healthy enough to be back in school. Honestly, the fact that his fever is gone and he talks non-stop is proof enough - however the impromptu dancing around the house has been very exciting!

Our Family's New Find

As many of you know... or maybe you don't know, I am lactose intolerant. I wasn't always this way - it's something that came up towards the end of being a missionary in Korea and the mystery wasn't fully solved until a year after I was back home. Luckily, with the aid of lactase supplements I've been able to eat dairy with only occasional problems.

However when I am pregnant supplements don't work for me - at least for the first 20 weeks. Don't ask me why - my doctors have only been able to speculate with no real concrete answers. In a way, this is a problem because everyone knows you need more calcium when you're pregnant and the best source is dairy - but for me it just doesn't work.

This pregnancy Handsome Hubby brought home something for me to try... something I've thought of trying before, but just never got around to doing it. It was...

Yes, it's Soy Milk and it turns out it's delicious. Now I can get all of my calcium along with several other vitamins and some fiber without getting sick and without having to take a supplement. It's great!

Don't worry - I'm not trying to put Dairy Farmers out of business - Handsome Hubby's mom and dad are in the dairy business. So, let me just say - I still love cheese, ice cream and yogurt! I'm just glad I found something to add to my diet that I can handle on my own.

I guess I'm also throwing the soy milk idea out there to use as part of your food storage. If you have a cool place to store it - you can buy it on the shelf and I've seen some with expiration dates a couple of years down the road. I've been thinking of keeping it on hand just because it does have the same nutrients of regular milk along with a few extra benefits and it's already in liquid form so you don't need to use any of your stored water to reconstitute it. It might be a nice healthy treat to have on hand in an emergency (especially vanilla flavored - it's yummy). But, I would suggest you try giving your family some form of soy to try before adding it to your storage - some people do have soy allergies.