Tuesday, November 25, 2008

How to Cook a Turkey

Every year at preschool, the teacher sits down with each student individually and asks them how to prepare the Thanksgiving turkey. This years version is just as funny as the years past. Maybe Benny needs some cooking lessons........

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

How to Cook a Turkey
by Benjamin Cook

You get a gun and go outside and shoot them, then eat them. You cook it in the oven. It's served in a bowl with tomatoes, salad, lemons, and that's all. Cook it for 6 hours at 42 degrees. It's done when the microwave beeps. Then you take off the feathers, then you eat it. Then when you are done eating you take out the bones and throw them away!

Friday, November 21, 2008

It's Another.......

Today, we finally had the ultrasound! It seems like we have been waiting forever!

The baby looks great and we are going to have another......



Clue #1: Benny will not have to share his bedroom!

Clue #2: One gender will outnumber the other!

Clue #3: Benny wants to move to California, or maybe Michigan with Daddy and Smokey!

That's right, it's another girl!

We couldn't be happier! We would have been happy with either a boy or a girl, but at this stage in the game, a girl will be easier for bedroom sharing. Plus, all of our baby girl gear is much newer than the baby boy stuff! Benny had been hoping for a little brother, instead of another troublesome little sister, but already he is happy about sweet baby #3. I'd have to say that Nick and I are happy too!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween Fun

Our Halloween Festivities began on Thursday with Benny's first of two school Halloween parties. Since he goes all 5 days to school, he is technically in two different classes, so they have parties for both groups. Thursday's group was boy dominated, as they only have one girl in their class. Sophie and I stayed to help with the party and we brought cupcakes and sugar cookies. It was fun to watch Benny play with his school friends. He is a natural leader and seems to direct a lot of their free play. We were able to help out with a Halloween craft and Sophie tried to color one too. She really was more interested in taking her crayons out her cup and then putting them back in again. Eventually, we had to head for home to take a nap. When Sophie gets tired, she becomes destructive, and I was having a hard time keeping up with her dumping things out in the classroom. We came back for the last few minutes of the fun, and joined in a little on Friday's party too!

Benny really, really wanted to be a Clone Trooper from Star Wars for Halloween. I was hoping he would change his mind to a costume that was a little more original, or for one that we could make at home, but he wouldn't give up on the idea. After weeks of discussion, I finally caved and bought the costume. He was thrilled, and couldn't wait to put in on for school. Originally, I wanted to dress the kids as some sort of theme. I wanted Sophie to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (we do live in Kansas you know), and Benny to be either the Tin Man, Scarecrow or Cowardly Lion. He didn't agree, and wondered why Sophie couldn't order the baby Yoda costume he had seen in a catalogue. I didn't want my sweet baby dressed as Yoda (although it could have been cute), so we decided that our theme idea wouldn't work.

So, I set out to make Sophie a Dorothy costume. Yes, I said make! I have only sewed burp cloths and goody bags for the single soldiers, so my experience is very limited. I have never attempted clothing of any sort. I went and picked out the fabric, and the most simple pattern I could find. I procrastinated for weeks, talked it over lots with my mom, and eventually bit the bullet and put it together. I had a few slip ups, but it really did turn out cute. I have plans to make her a polka dot dress out of the same pattern soon. It was really hard to get her to sit still for a picture, and as usual, the overpowering sun washed out most of the pictures. She would only leave the bow in just long enough for us to take a photo. She has a cute little dog that went as Toto, and she carried one of those famous Poland baskets! Oh, and of course she had ruby red slippers (which she loved!)!

Thursday evening we headed to downtown, where the kids could participate in a Halloween Parade and then Trick or Treat at the local businesses. It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up. There were hundreds of children and parents, and even dogs in costume. Sophie loved to see the dogs and would wave frantically from her stroller at them.


Nick was able to meet us there on his way home from work. I was grateful to have the extra set of hands to help. Eventually, the crowds were just too much for us, and we headed home to carve pumpkins.

On Friday night we were eager for the Trick or Treating to begin. Ben's friend Taylor and her mom, Jennifer, joined us. We all went Trick or Treating to a few houses on our street, and then Nick headed back with Sophie to hand out candy at our house.
He's all ready to go!
We tried and tried to get a picture of all three kids, but we couldn't get the older two to calm down and Sophie just didn't want to cooperate. She wanted to put all of our candy into her basket. She had recently discovered the stash by the front door and was very intrigued by it. After some tears by Sophie, we were able to get away from the basket and make our way down the street.


She's off to see the Wizard!


This Halloween was really fun, because Benny finally fully understood the process. He said Trick or Treat and thank you at every house, and didn't fuss when people put candy he didn't want into his basket. Sophie mostly observed, but did walk up to a few neighbors houses. Her fun came later when she handed out candy with Daddy at home. She delighted in all the kids in their costumes and loved putting candy into their baskets. She threw another fit when Nick tried to take them inside. She wanted to sit on the porch and watch and wait for the trick or treaters. She was also very intrigued with the jack-o-lanterns we had carved the night before. She even learned a new word-hot!

Sophie was thrilled to see us when we came home and was ready to dig through Ben's candy. She even helped herself to a sucker!


I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Thursday night was pumpkin carving night at our house! We got a later start than expected because we had been downtown for some Halloween activities. By the time we had dinner and a bath for Sophie it was pretty late. Sophie turns into a pumpkin every night around 7:30, so we decided that it would be best for everyone if she just went to bed. Benny was super excited to carve all of the pumpkins he had picked out at the bison farm. We even had a few little ones that he brought home from school. We have two Mr. Potato Head sets that were perfect for the little pumpkins. Benny has a vampire and Sophie has a witch. Benny happily did both his and his sister's pumpkins.

Benny is generally a clean kid and doesn't enjoy getting very dirty. He was intrigued by the pumpkin 'guts' as he called them, but didn't want to touch them. He did help us scrape out the insides as long he didn't get dirty.

Here he is busy working on cleaning out the largest, or 'daddy' pumpkin. When he was picking out the pumpkins at the farm, Ben assigned one to each family member.

I couldn't resist scaring Benny with the pumpkin goo!


We had so much fun on pumpkin carving night. We listened to Halloween music and danced. I think our finished products turned out pretty great!

Field Trip to the Nature Center

Last Wednesday, Benny's preschool took a field trip to Milford Nature Center. This is the third year we have taken the trip, but there is always something new and exciting to discover at the nature center. New this year was a giant eagle's nest that the kids could play in. The boys hopped right in while we were waiting for our guide to arrive.

Although our weather has been quite pleasant lately with the afternoon temps reaching near 70, our mornings have been frigid. Our trip started at 9am, and on the ride up to Milford my car warned me that the temperature was right for ice. It was 32 degrees! I had the kids all bundled up in their winter gear and lots of layers. I had planned to put Sophie in the stroller inside her nice German sleeping bag, but she had other plans. She wanted to play on the playground with the kids!


Later in the morning after our nature hike was complete, the weather had warmed some and Sophie and I went to visit the exhibit of rescue birds. She loved looking at the Golden Eagles and didn't want to return to the playground with the other kids. She practiced making bird noises and was so excited to see the birds she tried to climb the fence to get closer.

Her favorite Golden Eagle was eager to let her look and point. It even put on a little show for us stretching it's wings and strutting around. The eagle looked to be as big as Sophie!


During our nature hike the guides handed out binoculars to the kids. They loved looking into the trees and over the lake for wildlife. Ben kept announcing that he had seen an Eagle, but I don't think he really did.



Since Sophie wouldn't ride in her stroller I had to carry her. It made me incredibly nervous to take the trail by the lake. She kept pointing at the water and desperately wanted to get down. I think she may have wanted to go for a swim!


After the nature hike we went indoors and had a scavenger hunt. I don't have any pictures because I was busy chasing Sophie around and helping Benny look for the animals on his list. Sophie was trilled to see all of the native Kansas creatures-snakes, lizards, spiders, birds and prairie dogs to name a few. I wasn't thrilled to see many of them.....
Later we enjoyed a picnic lunch and the kids played and played on the playground. Eventually it warmed up enough to take off our jackets. Benny was pretending to be Indiana Jones in this photo!


I hadn't realized how much Sophie would enjoy the trip. She is an outdoors girl. We plan to visit again when the weather is right!