Halloween 2011

Love that Emma!

Our compromise...Braid Tony-Pails!

I love love LOVE to see my children discover new things and find wonder in the seemingly simple things of life. The things I too often take for granted.

Today I put Emma and Annalee into the tub together. When it was time for them to get out I pulled the plug before I took the girls out. Emma was so nervous that Annalee was going to slip down the drain. She held onto her and shouted for me to get her before she slipped down the drain. It was so cute to see her protective nature for her little sister! I calmly explained that Annalee was way too big to slip down that tiny drain. (If you've seen her fat rolls, you'd understand how funny it would be to think that she could actually go down that hole.)

I took Annalee out and Emma watched in the tub as the water went down. When the water level was lower, the water made a whirlpool (vortex) on it's way out. Emma saw it form and backed up..."Mom, there is something scary in this tub" she said in a nervous/wonderfilled voice that totally made me smile.

Then it was time to do her hair. I wanted to do french braids, she wanted two tony-pails. I told her we would do braids since we had time to. She informed me that braids took too long and tony-pails were faster. I started the braids and she said "that is not how you do french braids."

"Really!" I said. "How do you know?"

"Dad told me."

"OH! Dad doesn't know how to do french braids" I said.

"well," was her reply, "when I was two, Jesus told me how to do french braids, and he said it was tony-pails."

Stinker! Glad she has such a great relationship with Jesus that he tells her how to french braid. Hope she always keeps that relationship up.

But I also thought how great. Jesus, in her mind is the supreme authority on all topics...even french braids.

Love that little lady!

Sterling Corn Maze

Happy Fall y'all!

Duct Tape Shoes

Yiayia and Papou came for a visit and they told us about Duct tape shoes!

We seriously spent all day making shoes out of Duct Tape! The boys were so creative. Then we went to Target and who knew, They had Hello Kitty Duct Tape!!!! Made some for the girls. When we went to Old Navy the next day, Emma was wearing hers and the sales clerk was amazed. She couldn't get over Duct Tape shoes. Noah's

Sam's Max's Caleb's

Annalee's Mara's Emma's

Thanks for telling us about Duct Tape Shoes!

Thinkin maybe next year...family reunion...just sayin!

Eatin Toes!

If you could do that! Would you?

We Have A Sitter! {Annalee}

Sneak Peek of the New Bathroom

This is for you mom! I will post more when we get the sink in and the mirror up and decorated!

Sam's Piano

I love that Sam fills our house with music. If ever there is a spare second, he jumps on the piano and plays his heart out! I love it! I hope he always does it, because it totally mellows me out. He does it when we are rushing out the door, or hurrying to get ready, and it calms us all. Love it!

Mell of a Hess

Saturday was spent in much cleaning! Ryan spent the whole day in the garage... Don't be distracted by the cute smile, ...

Look at the disaster zone all around! All that is gone now and I have a really really clean garage. Noah painted the bookshelf for me and the play room is almost cleaned out as well. Tiling is done in the bathroom, and organization is starting to find it's way back into our house!

Love productive days!

Paper Pumpkin Craft

I was feeling crafty, but not in the mood to clean up a big mess. I looked online at bettter homes and gardens and found these darling pumpkins to make. Me and the girls whipped a few up! No big mess, tons of fun, and exercised my creative demons! So Easy, so fun! The instructions said to use wine corks for the stem, but we had so many pumpkins from our garden we just popped the stems off of them and toasted them in the toaster oven for a minute so the hot glue would stick to them. The jute we wrapped around a pencil and then painted with a 1/2 elmer's glue 1/2 water mixture, then stuck in the toaster oven for just a few minutes to dry, unwound and they were curly!

These are going to be our thank you's to our teachers this month since we have parent/ teacher conferences!

Mod Podge Cabinet

Took the cabinet in my basement that was totally ugly, dirty, dinged up and had a huge gouge taken out of the door.
Fixed the hole with putty, painted it the same color as one of the stripes in this room and then mod podged the paper on the doors! It will now be my toy cabinet! I am in love with it! I almost wish it was going in my room!

Max's school work

Max brought this cute story home from school today! He was only 4 when we left Utah. It made a lifelong impression on him though! I think it is so awesome that he still thinks of Nick as his best friend. The reality is that we have now lived in Montana as long as we lived in Farmington.

Tiny Highness in Her High Chair

5 months old and big enough for her high chair! She loves it! And love that she now can join us for dinner!

Canning Pinto Beans

This was probably the easiest canning that I have ever done! And such a great thing to have on hand. We already ate a jar and my kids loved them! You just put one cup of pinto beans (or black beans or really any kind of bean!) into the quart mason jar.

I added 2 Tbsp chopped onion (you could add more)

1 tsp salt

( NOT iodized, use real salt or canning salt)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3 drops liquid smoke

Fill the rest of the jar with water leaving 1 inch head space

You could leave everything but the salt out though. I added the rest because I wanted the boys to be able to open the jar and eat it on a burrito, or on nachos or plain (which they do often.)

Pressure at 14 lbs for 90 minutes and walah!

Beans ready for soup or salad, or casseroles, or nachos or to eat plain.

I did black beans the next day and they were just as amazingly good!

who knew it was that easy, and taste oh so much better than canned refried beans.

Hope you try it!