Daddy is almost home!!!

Stephen has been in Arkansas (woohoo!) for the past 5 days. And I have been amazing. I didn't even cry once! Go me! But really, the kids were so good, and we kept busy doing projects:

*Elise and I made hair clips for her friends for Christmas. Bows are all the rage here in Utah, and I must admit that I jumped on the band wagon with this project. It's been a bunch of fun to do with Miss Elise, tho, and we made a bunch of flower-bows for really cheap! :o) Here is Sammy modeling some of our fantastic bows.




*Mason decided to make marshmallow guns for his friends for Christmas, so we made a trek to Lowes (where a VERY nice man cut all the pipes for me!) and bought 30 feet of 1/2" PVC pipe and a bunch (20 of each to be exact) of T's, elbows and caps. I showed him how to put one together, and he's made 8 on his own. Amazing machine-loving boy! He has also invented a balloon blower-upper with the leftover pipes.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that STEPHEN'S TEAM WON!!!!!!! The FedEx Case Competition is the supply chain competition in the nation, and BYU won! This is only the 2nd year they were invited (they took 2nd last year), so this is fantastic for the supply chain program!

I wonder what he was dreaming about

I just took Mason to the bathroom, and as I was tucking him back into his bed he rolled over, smiled, looked me in the eye, and said, "My tail is getting poofy." And promptly was asleep again.

Squash

An ode to squash:

Squash is beautiful
Squash is neat.
Squash is squishy
And good to eat.

I put it in pasta,
I put it in soup,
I put it in eggs,
And I feed it to groups.

Okay, that was really, really bad. But I really do put it in everything! Here's my recipe for success:

1 squash, washed
1 oven, heated
1 hour of said squash in said oven (approximately)
1 blender
ice cube trays

If the squash skin is fairly thin (like a banana squash), I don't even peel it. I just scoop out the innards (is that a word?) and puree it in the blender. If the skin is thick (like my delicious Hubbard squashes from my grandpa) I use a spoon and scoop out the good stuff before I blend it. Then I pour it into the ice cube trays (or make lumps on wax paper on a jelly roll pan) and freeze it. When it is all frozen I put the squash cubes into a Ziploc bag and put them back in the freezer. Wah-lah! Then I throw a couple of cubes into whatever I happen to be making. Today Elise asked for squash in her cheesy eggs. Love it!

It goes without notice in mac & cheese (the homemade kind, of course!), scrambled eggs, bean soup...I know I've put it in other things, I just can't think of them right now. :o)

It only took 6 1/2 years...

but Elise will now wear jeans!!!