to my mom and step-dad. We love you guys!

Family | No Comments »

We took the boys to Zoo Boo last night. I only got a couple of pictures, so I’m only posting pics of them in their costumes. Obviously, I’ll have more tomorrow between Alex’s Halloween program, the twins’ parade at school, and trick-or-treating tomorrow night. I’m pretty happy with Zach’s costume, now. We decided to pin the extra fabric up so that the hoop is even all the way around. I’m also very glad we decided to go to Zoo Boo last night. We discovered that, try as we might to secure the bowl to the top of the bike helmet with ticky tack stuff, every time he moved his head, which was a lot, the bowl moved. That wouldn’t normally be a problem, but the fabric does not move with the bowl, and that is a problem. We bought some velcro at WM last night and once Z gets home from school, I’ll be securing the bowl to the helmet and the fabric to the bowl.

Alright, here are the pics:

Halloween | No Comments »

Today is Alex’s snack day. It also happens to be picture day for him, so I wanted to make him a fun halloween themed snack that wouldn’t get everyone’s dress clothes all messy (even though snack is after pictures). I always try for a themed snack, either based on a holiday that is approaching, a birthday, or their theme in class for the week or month. With halloween being 2 days away, I obviously chose that for this month’s snack theme. What I made for snack today is probably the easiest themed snack I’ve ever made. Granted, I often make it harder on myself by chosing snacks that aren’t simple.

I have a Kraft Halloween recipe booklet (you know, the ones you find in the checkout aisle in the grocery store). It has so many neat recipes that I had a hard time narrowing it down to this one. But, ultimately, the fact that this snack is the least messy of them all was my deciding factor. Since I’m so pleased with the result, I thought I’d share that recipe with my readers

Prep time: 30 minutes plus refrigeration
Baking time: 35 minutes

1 package (19.8 ounces) brownie mix (I used 2 packages)
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 package (4-serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Iinstant Pudding & Pie Filling
Few drops each red and yellow food coloring (I used 4 drops of red and 12 drops of yellow)

Prepare and bake brownie mix as directed on package for 8 or-9-inch square baking pan (I used a 9x 13 which is why I used 2 packages). Remove from oven. Immediately use round handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes at 1-inch intervals down through brownies to pan.

Pour cold milk into large bowl. Add pudding misk and beat with a wire whisk for 2 minutes (you might not want to beat the entire 2 minutes, since you want it sort of on the soupy side). Stir in a few drops of food coloring to tint mixture orange. Quickly pour about 1/2 of the thin pudding evenly over warm brownies and into holes. Tap pan lightly to fill holes. Let remaining pudding mixture stand to thicken slightly. Spread remaining pudding over top of brownies to frost.

Refrigerate 1 hour or until ready to serve. Cut into 2-inch squares. Cut each square diagonally into triangles.

Makes 32.

Halloween, food | No Comments »

My Conservative Identity:

You are a Faith-Based Fighter, also known as a religious conservative. You believe in Judeo-Christian values, restoring God’s rightful place in the public square, and in showing all the unwashed and unsaved liberal sinners the path to salvation, or at least to the GOP.

Take the quiz at www.FightLiberals.com

fun | No Comments »

…than everyone else. Or, apparently that’s whay some hybrid drivers think. I’ve never looked down upon people who drive hybrids. If they believe they are doing their part to save the world, more power to them. We don’t drive hybrids, for 2 main reasons. One is the cost. Buying a hybrid costs much more than a non-hybrid and unless we plan to keep the car for 15 years, we won’t be able to make up the cost difference at the pumps (not to mention that we can’t afford to buy the hybrid in the first place). That leads to the second reason; they aren’t practical. At least not yet. But, if you want to drive one, be my guest.

Anyway, my impression of someone who drives a hybrid has always been that they are “environmentally conscious.” You don’t drive a hybrid just to drive a hybrid. While dh and I were leaving the WalMart parking lot last night after completing our quest for batteries for the camera (we were on our way to a Haunted History tour of Erie county. More on that in another post), we passed a hybrid (dh says it was a Prius. I wouldn’t know one from another). As I glanced over at the car, the driver threw her cigarette butt out the window. I was stunned. It’s not something I expected from someone driving a hybrid car. It was as if to say “Driving a hybrid makes up for any other environmentally unfriendly action I take.” Seriously. So much for the impression that she was being “environmentally conscious.” She seriously gave me the impression that she was better than everyone else because she was driving a Prius and that driving that car meant she was doing her part to save the earth and she didn’t have to do anything else.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to look at hybrid drivers the way I used to…

General, life | 7 Comments »

Blooregard Q. Kazoo is finally done! Here are the last 3 steps of the costume:

Here, I’m using stitch witchery to secure a hoola hoop around the bottom to help keep the roundness of Bloo’s character:

Here is Bloo with no face:

And here is the final product.

I cut holes in the eyes so Zach could see. He seems to be happy with the final product. I can’t say I’m 100% happy with it. The problem I ran into was that there was much more fabric than there was hoola hoop. It therefore causes the hoola hoop to sit funny. In other words, it doesn’t sit evenly around the bottom, it “leans” one way or the other. Zach doesn’t seem to mind, so I guess I should be happy with it. I’m not saying that I’m not happy, I just wish it looked better. That’s my perfectionism coming in to play, I suppose. All-in-all it wasn’t *too* hard to make. I would, in retrospect, try to find a bigger hoop to put around the bottom. It was good practice, though. Ryan has now decided that he wants to be Bloo next year, lol. I’m sure that will change over the course of the next 370 days, though.

For now, I’m just glad it’s over and done with. And as long as he’s happy with it, I’m happy

Halloween | No Comments »

I have given up trying to get my sewing machine work in time for halloween. I have decided to go with the iron-on adhesive tape and I’ll whip stitch it to give it extra security. In the meantime, Bloo has a face:

Zach has decided he likes this face the best:

The only difference is the tongue. I’ll post more pics tomorrow as I finish it up

Halloween | 2 Comments »

We decided to go shopping for halloween costume parts this evening. We don’t need anything for Ryan’s costume. He’s going as Mack, from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. Alex’s costume we are pricing. He wants to be Spiderman, and we weren’t willing to pay $24 without looking around to see if it’s cheaper somewhere else. Zach’s proved a bit more interesting.

We looked for a plain blue sheet, but were unsuccessful at finding one that didn’t also come with the rest of the sheet set. We went to JoAnn Fabrics and went browsing through their fabrics. We found this great blue fabric (that Zach approved because it was “soft”).

We bought 2 1/2 yards, but I suppose it will depend on the size of the kid. Ctsutsui left this message on my original post about halloween costumes:

Using a king size flat sheet for the body and a small hoop on the bottom to maintain shape.

I hadn’t thought about putting a hoop around the bottom to maintain the shape, but now I think I’m going to do that. I ought to be able to find a hoola hoop at WalMart for not too much money. For the eyes and mouth, i bought felt squares in red, white and black.

I haven’t really decided what to do with his arms, other than making a hole (or leaving a hole) in the fabric and possibly having him wear a blue shirt and blue gloves. Ctsutsui suggested:

Going to cut holes for the arms and making arm socks out of the pillow cases

That’s a good idea. I may have enough fabric to do that with. Otherwise, I think I’ll just stick with the blue shirt and gloves thing. We’ve decided to use a big bowl stuffed with…something…and put on his head with the cloth draped over it to give him the complete roundness that Bloo needs. It (the bowl) comes out over his shoulders and with that hoop at the bottom, I think we can really get the shape we want. Once I start working, which will be soon since I only have 2 weeks, I’ll post pics of my progress

Halloween | No Comments »

I haven’t been in a particularly bloggy mood lately. I’m still sick, but finally starting to feel some relief. I was doubly sick last week, but I’ll spare you the details of why. Even through yesterday, I just felt miserable. I have been so tired from being sick and the meds I’m taking don’t help. My mistake was not buying something that was specifically “non-drowsy.” I usually do, but my judgement was too clouded by the fog in and around my head when I bought it. Oh well, it works at the very least, and at this point, relief is all I really want anyway. I think Alex is starting to feel better, too. His nose is still full of junk, but his cough is waning.

There’s been a lot going on in our house, too, which has made for very little time to blog. There’s been things I’ve thought of, or found, but have just been too tired or worn out to think through a blog post about whatever it was. I’ve got fall folage pictures to share, but haven’t even downloaded them off the camera yet. Shoot, I’ve still got a post waiting in my drafts folder from June when we went to Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia! I promise to get that post up soon. We had some really neat pics from there. It just seems like everything happens at once, ya know? (No sooner did I type that then I had to go jetting off to the basement to re-balance my washing machine. It never ends, I suppose.)

Once I start feeling better, I’ll start posting more. November is Prematurity Awareness month and I have plans for a post-a-day pertaining to preemie facts, etc. Once I start the Halloween costumes, I’ll post pics of my progress and the final products. Honestly? I’m just too tired to do any more blogging right now. This massive head cold really, really wiped me out. All I can say to that is: take your vitamin C!!!

General, blogging, life | 2 Comments »

Al Gore has won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Well, he co-won with the UN. I’m starting to think the Nobel Peace Prize is loosing its meaning. I don’t know what global warming has to do with peace, but apparently that doesn’t matter anymore. Looks like they have awarded this years prize based on an agenda, rather than giving it to someone who was actually doing something to promote peace.

News | 2 Comments »