It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas. . .

and Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.

Actually we've had a great Christmas break so far. I love sleeping in, reading, watching movies and generally doing nothing while the kids are kept busy with their new-fangled electronics.
The month started off with a favorite tradition-watching Jason cut down and haul off our Christmas tree, then watching him put the lights on the tree. :)

We added a couple of new ornaments this year-one commemorating our summer vacation on the Oregon coast and a llama, just because we love them.
We went again this year to see the Christmas ship parade on the Columbia River.

We celebrated Caleb's birthday on the 23rd. We told him he could go to any restaurant for his birthday and he chose to stay home and have his favorite dinner of frozen breaded chicken patties, mashed potatoes, and country gravy. He was very happy to get a new airsoft gun and a Lego set.

On Christmas eve we had our traditional ham dinner with party potatoes and rolls. Afterward we watched Christmas shows. I knew we wouldn't be able to stay up later than the kids, so we set our alarm for 6am to set out the presents. When we were done Jason got out his megaphone and woke everyone up.
Sorting the presents
Hiram got a surprise gift-a laptop. He was very happy about that!
Then it was over and me and Jason went back to sleep and the kids played.
We survived another year and the best part was that no one was sick for Christmas.
Jason got me an interesting combo of presents including a stun gun and diamond earrings. He said the stun gun is for when someone tries to steal the earrings or for when I'm walking alone in the woods. It must be a guy thing :) I hope you all had a festive Christmas season! I'll leave you with our family photo that didn't make the cut this year.
I'm going to try to make 2012 the best year yet. Caleb says the aliens are coming in June and we're all going to die, so let's make it count! Happy New Year!

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

I tried this recipe tonight and it was so good and very moist! This is an easy dessert that would feed a crowd.

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Mix together:
2 cups pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup oil (I used butter)

Then add:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix together until smooth. Spray a sheet cake size pan with Pam. Bake @350 for 20 minutes.
Cool then frost with your favorite cream cheese or vanilla frosting.

Fall Family Fun

We had a great weekend showing my sister-in-law Natalia and my niece Olivia around Portland for the first time. We were all so enthralled with how cute and smart Olivia is. I really enjoyed having Natalia here to talk to. Thanks for visiting us!

Halloween Hijinks

We certainly love to celebrate Halloween. We listen to Halloween music, Jason and the kids watch scary movies and Jason took Ethan to a couple of haunted houses this month. Jason and I picked our pumpkins at a farm by our house (the kids weren't interested in having tons of fun).
On Saturday we had our annual Halloween dinner of Pasta e Fagioli soup, breadsticks with alfredo dipping sauce, bubbling apple cider in the witches' cauldron and pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies.

Alli and Hiram carving pumpkins


Caleb and his friends decorating cookies


This is a game I created called "Punch-a-Prize". You have to punch through a tin foil covered bowl to collect your prize. Everyone loved it!

On Sunday we went to a spookily decorated house in Portland called Davis Graveyard.
We also went to one of our favorite places, The Waffle Window. In the fall they have the pumpkin pie waffle. It's so good.
On Halloween, Ethan went trick-or-treating with his friends. We decided this would be his last year, so he wanted to go out with a bang with his "Vantucky Redneck" costume.

He had a very realistic voice to go along with it


Caleb just wore a Scream mask. After 5 minutes it was too hot and he had to tell people he was Justin Bieber and flip his hair to the side.

Now that Halloween is over we are looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Hood River Fruit Loop

Today Jason, Ethan and I spent the day driving the Hood River Fruit Loop near Mt. Hood. It took about an hour driving up the Columbia Gorge to get to the loop. We drove on the Washington side for the first time to get there. It was beautiful.
Our first stop was Rasmussen Farms, home of "Pumpkin Funland".
They had several scenes depicting fairy tales and nursery rhymes. It kind of reminded us of the pumpkin walk in North Logan, except with much lower production value. It really make us laugh. This is supposed to be the beast from "Beauty and the Beast". . .on the left.
They also had pumpkin bowling and a corn trail. They had the tallest corn stalks I'd ever seen!

They also had MANY varieties of apples and pears. We bought a few varieties and I ate the best tasting apple I have ever had!
Our next stop was the Cascade alpaca farm. This was whole reason Ethan wanted to come. He wasn't disappointed. They had many cute and fluffy baby alpacas, a huge sheepdog and 2 cats, "Knit" and "Purl" in the fiber shop.
Ethan was able to lure one of the babies over to the fence with some alpaca food.

This was the view from the alpaca farm.
The next produce stop had sunflowers, pumpkins and an awesome swing.
One last food stop for some huckleberry apple cobbler with Tillamook ice cream.
On the way home we stopped at Multnomah Falls.
What a great day. Whenever I see the more of the area around us I am so grateful that we are living here! I'm still not sure why everyone hasn't moved here.

Ethan's Birthday

This past week we had a belated birthday dinner to celebrate Ethan's 14th birthday. He requested a red velvet cake with I made from scratch. It wasn't my best work. I always prefer cakes from a mix over ones made from scratch. I've yet to perfect a red velvet cake, but it was okay. Instead of going out to a restaurant, Ethan wanted us to make his dream dinner--ribs, bacon, breadsticks made from Rhodes dough with alfredo dipping sauce and Mountain Dew to drink. Not the healthiest dinner, but he loved it! Ethan bought a Nintendo 3DS with his birthday money and had been playing it ever since.

Our Disneyland Vacation

Well, we survived spending 6 days together at Disneyland. Our feet and wallets hurt but it was worth it. I love seeing Disneyland decorated for Halloween. We got to go on some new rides-the revamped Star Tours, The Little Mermaid ride, the seasonal change of Space Mountain into "Ghost Galaxy" and the new "World of Color" show. The favorite ride this time was the Matterhorn. We went on that so many times (too many if you ask me). Watch the slide show for a recap!

Random Stuff

Last week Jason and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. We went on a dinner cruise on the Willamette River. It was really fun and the food was great! Here's a view of the Portland skyline from the boat.

Here's a picture I took this morning. It reminds me of Halloween.
Not a whole lot else has been going on here. We are just enjoying the beginning of our favorite season, "Septober" as Jason calls it. The rains come back, the weather gets cooler, and I get in the mood to sew and cook. I'll be sharing my projects with you as they are finished.
I have also been adding more content to my other blog Chickabloom.com. Check it out if you are so inclined.

Bountiful Harvest

This is our garden-a patch of dirt in a weed field that we covered with landscape fabric, cut holes, and planted seeds. We planted mostly pumpkins plus a couple of zucchini plants.
The problem is that we don't go out to the garden very often and the zucchini grow too fast.
Who's going to eat zucchini that big? No one. I had to come up with another use for the biggest one.
A flower arrangement celebrating the bountiful harvest (of zucchinis).
We also encountered another problem in the garden after neglecting it for a while. It was like a scary scene from a b-movie called, "Attack of the Monster Slug."
These stupid banana slugs are everywhere in the garden and find the Baby Boo pumpkins particularly tasty. Many ended up on our neighbor's shed roof left to fry. The rest were killed by something called "Slug Death". I'm hoping we'll get some pumpkins out of the garden before they rot or are eaten!

First Day of School

No more lazy days of summer-staying up all night and sleeping all day. School has started and we're back to the old grind. I have begun the over 500 trips to the bus stop that I will make this year. It feels like a part time job getting everyone off to school. They each leave roughly an hour apart.
You can probably hear Hiram saying, "I'm going to miss the bus on the first day of school, MOM" as you look at the picture.Ethan is planning on this year to being as bad as the last. There's been no improvement in attitude. He did incorporate some pops of color in his black/grey wardrobe this school year.

Caleb has encountered his "worst case scenario"-he didn't get the teacher he wanted and his old girlfriend is in his class. I think his teachers are really nice. He has two teachers and 50 kids in his class. He's looking forward to being on the safety patrol this year. Caleb heard on TV that aliens are going to invade next June, so he's relieved that he won't have to go to middle school.


Hooray for school!