Wordless Wednesday

Victory

Soccer Saturday. Maricopa, AZ. It was Kaleb's first soccer game of the season, he took the field and was the leader of the Lion pack. Every time he was in, he was right in the thick of it, going after that ball! He scored 2 goals, possibly 3, and not that we're THOSE parents, but it was an easy win. ;) There was a little heartbreak at the end, as one of Kaleb's teammates stole the ball from him after he'd dribbled it all the way down the field and was about to score again! The BEST part of all was after the game though. Both sides of the field formed victory tunnels and somehow lost in the joy of the moment, Kaleb joined ranks with the other team and ran 3 times through their tunnel, completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn't with his team, that we weren't the ones cheering him on. It just didn't matter. Grandma was trying to videotape him going through the tunnel for his team, and he never came. It was awesome, and reminded me of one of those conference talks I loved recently. Here's an excerpt from a talk by Rosemary M. Wixom, the Primary General President, entitled "Stay on the Path."

Last spring my husband and I attended a soccer game of our four-year-old grandson. You could feel the excitement on the field as the players ran in every direction chasing the soccer ball. When the final whistle blew, the players were unaware of who won or who lost. They had simply played the game. The coaches directed the players to shake hands with the opposing team members. Then I observed something quite remarkable. The coach called for a victory tunnel. All the parents, grandparents, and any spectators who had come to observe the game stood up and formed two lines facing each other, and by raising their arms they formed an arch. The children squealed as they ran through the cheering adults and down the path formed by the spectators. Soon the children from the opposing team joined the fun as all the players—the winners and the losers—were cheered on by the adults as they ran the path of the victory tunnel.

In my mind’s eye, I had another picture. I had the feeling I was seeing children living the plan, the plan Heavenly Father has created for each individual child. They were running the strait and narrow path through the arms of the spectators who love them, each one feeling the joy of being on the path.

Jacob said, “O how great the plan of our God!”³ The Savior has “marked the path and led the way.”⁴ I testify that as we hold on to our children and follow the Savior’s lead, we will all return to our heavenly home and be safe in our Heavenly Father’s arms.

It's my Party

and I'll cry if I want to!

Look, I'm one!

Our Sweetie turned 1 today and what a day it was! After the boys tested positive for strep the day before, we rushed Ruby in on her birthday to have her checked out. She tested negative, but had double ear infections. Poor baby! She now weighs 16 lbs. 4 oz. and is up half a pound from last month. She also got her flu booster shot & a glittery bandaid to show off her battle wounds. Oh, the joy of being a big 1 year old!

Ben & I snuck away for a middle of the day date while Grandma watched the kiddos. We got a glimpse of retirement: dr. appt. together, followed by Walgreens (the entire fam is on antibiotics now), Subway & Bashas for birthday balloons & icecream. Ruby girl took her afternoon nap while Grandma made a Bonnie Butter cake in the giant cupcake mold I finally bought.

Ruby's VERY exclusive party of 5 began after a pre-dinner cat nap. While she was sleeping, I decorated the cake & we finished dinner and wrapping presents. Boys Club decorated the dining room with pink streamers on the ceiling around the chandelier...so fancy! They did a great job and loved being a part of the process. They also asked about 29 times when we were going to get the party started!

Party time finally arrived. Ruby loved all the attention and was so stinkin' cute! You would have never guessed she was sick at all. We sang Happy Birthday, gave her the huge pink polka-dotted cupcake at her high chair table, and she was all smiles! The cake was bigger than she was & we couldn't see her in her high chair, so we put her on top of the table with her cake, ready to see her dive in.

Instead, she was so dainty and picked off the dot candies one by one, and fed them to Daddy. It was so cute! She did end up getting a little messy & eating some, too.

After cake, she was a little tired, but perked right up for present time. She knew just what to do and loves cards as much as I do!

Kaleb showing off the ruby red Christmas dress made especially by Grandma. What a pretty boy, oh...and dress. Thanks, Mom!

The boys getting in on the present action. HIYA!

Grandma passed on Uncle Tommy & Uncle Jonny's ninja costumes.

Here's Ruby in her pink camo, lace trimmed ball cap. Only Aunt Carlybell can find onesies & hats like that!

Baby kisses!

Ruby was spoiled by loved ones near and far. What a sweet birthday for such a sweet girl!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Bonesticks, Witches Brew, Spiders & Eyeballs

Here's a few foodie traditions we started this year, thanks to my wonderful friend & visiting teacher, Andrea. She's created some really fun traditions with her family, and with a little encouragement from her, and Chrissy, I decided to go for it. (ha, Chrissy, maybe this will motivate you to blog again. ;)

I love baking, so this was a treat for me. I ended up making probably around 4 dozen "bonesticks" from scratch. Some were for the cook off, but we had to make a last minute trip to get black hair spray before the party, so they weren't judged. Andrea said she's done this with just biscuits in a can. I used my mama's famous bread recipe, rolled the dough out like you would for cinnamon rolls, then cut in strips and in half again. You then tie a knot in each end to form the bone. I baked mine for 10 minutes, instead of the normal 15 for rolls. Brush with butter or butter with garlic powder. Mmmmmmmmmm!

I've been craving Emilie's Marvelous Minestrone, so threw some in my Witch's Pot Sunday morning. I cooked it on high for a couple of hours and it was done before church. We had lots of fun dissecting the brew to find children's ears (pasta shells), frog legs (green beans), yellow teeth (corn), toad eyes (garbanzo beans), & blood (tomato based broth) to suck down. Topped with wizard's hair (shredded mozzarella or parmesan) of course!

Ben asked me Fri. afternoon to make goodies for the families he home teaches, and said he'd help. Well he was helpful in keeping the boys busy & eating licorice, but you know. Here's a recipe for Peanut Butter Eyeballs that Chrissy sent me. I was going to bring them to her shin-dig Halloween night, but ended up sick at home watching cartoon Halloween movies with the fam instead. Mine didn't turn out nearly as cute, but the boys loved them!

I googled these Oreo Spider Cookies. I remembered seeing them in a magazine in years past. They're more difficult than they look. I don't really care for multi-step cookies, esp. when the darn oreos crumble so easily. But they were the cutest spiders I've ever seen!

The best new tradition was Kaleb's big idea to set the spooky mood. We ate our dinner by Jack'o'Lantern & candlelight. So fun! Here's a few pics of earlier in the month. We made candy skewers, caramel candy apples, and Haunted Houses with friends.

Can you say sugar overload?!?