Home By the Creekside

Sister Lou was a bunny princess and Little Man was a Scream ghost. Funny that his cousin is the same thing and that was not even planned. Too bad they live in AZ. Here they are with their carved pumpkins. I did a good job, huh? Kids in action....They ended up filling their buckets to the rim last night. I know it was not Halloween night but since we live in Mormonville. Most of everyone went on Sat as too not break the Sabbath. However, I  hope we get more trick or treaters tonight. We had 16 kids at our house last night. This is what we get for living in an itty bitty subdivision...quietness and saving money on candy. Yay!

I can't believe it has been 7 years for this. Time is flying and boy, are we having fun with these kids. I wouldn't trade them for anything. I used the candlelight setting on my picture. Not the best...Sorry. Little man turned 7 on Friday and they had a Halloween party in his class. We then went to the Halloween carnival at the school in the evening and had more fun. It was a very busy day!

I told my kids that they needed to clean them out themselves and they did...too goopy for me. I think Sister Lou like used 5 dishtowels to wipe her squishy hands. Little man waited until he was finished. My job was to get the seeds from the goopy stuff so we can eat the seeds later. Then we carved see above Halloween pictures with the faces. Yummy recipe here! Recipe that I used for the seeds. 2 cups of raw seeds 2 teasp. worchestshire sauce 1/2 teasp salt 1/4 garlic salt. Bake at 275 for 1 hour, turning them every 15 minutes.

(he's in the shower...husband took picture of the moment whilst I was out doing my VT) Our son had his first front tooth come out last night. It has been wiggly since the summer. Finally, it was ready. I will be a couple weeks and his other one will soon follow. Sister Lou has no loose teeth as of yet. I can't wait for her to lose her first tooth.

Oh no! You didn't . Yes, I did... post this picture of you...mom.. Sorry but this is the only recent picture I have of you.  Meet my mother. I won't say how old she is or her name to protect her innocence. I do know she doesn't eat alot of chocolate because of migraines, but I have seen her slip m&m cookies in her mouth. She doesn't like bbq sauce alot and will eat it when I cook it because I love bbq sandwiches. She is not a spicy fan but eat it when I cook it. She is a neat freak but will come into my home and deal with my mess for at least a day or two until she has had enough and pulls up her sleeves to pitch in. She saves me recipes, magazines, and newspaper clippings because she knows how much I love it. My back home people know her. She is wonderful even if she still lives in Arizona and I don't say it enough and tell her how I much I appreciate her. She sends my kids packages during the holidays or just because. She comes and visits us even riding the

While son was downstairs with 6 other boys with names that have the K sound , I  was upstairs letting the dogs out and...I spotted a beautiful Arizona-like sunset. Last week, I had my students do watercolor sunrises and sunsets. They turned out great but nothing like this. Thank you Heavenly Father for the beautiful things that surround me.

For our church super Sat today...I made some Velveeta Cheese Fudge. At Christmastime, we tak little treat plates to our neighbors and this is usually one of the things we put on it. I am still debating about doing it this year...but we'll see.  Here is the recipe...and it is so yummy. List of Ingredients: 3/4 lb. (12 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product or VELVEETA Made With 2% Milk Reduced Fat Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine 6 squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Chocolate 2 Tbsp. light corn syrup 1 tsp. vanilla How to make it: PLACE VELVEETA, butter, chocolate and corn syrup in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2 min.; stir. Microwave an additional minute; stir until well blended. ADD chocolate mixture, in batches, to sugar in large bowl, beating with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended after each addition. Stir in pecans and vanilla. POUR into greased 13x9-inch pan. S

Son and daughter decided to get all the warm blankets in the house and build a bed for them in the hallway. I didn't mind because it kept them busy while I completed one of my papers. *I have one more to go and it is a big one---15 pages. I hope to finish it this weekend. They had about 13 blankets under or on top of them. Guess who had to fold them up? Ya..me. I don't know how I got roped into that but...atleast...they played nicely and had a good time. I love lazy Sundays... The kids' primary program is in two weeks. I can't wait to see them perform their songs that they have been learning all year long. Son informed me last night that his favorite song is "I Will Go." It made me feel warm inside kind of like how these blankets feel especially the top one. Totally unrelated.....then whenever he sees a tree with white fruit in pictures. He always ponders about how the fruit from the tree of life would taste and then it makes me wonder too. I am so glad

So last Saturday, we went to the park in IF to see how the colors are changing. It was amazing to see all green in a part of the park. Then the closer you get to the Snake river, it is yellow and leaves are on the ground. I told my husband and kids that it would be cool to bring a rake with us to the park so we could all jump in the leaves. We have two little trees on our acre. That's kind of sad, but hopefully it will change this spring when we buy some adult trees for the back. Look at my cute man.....(You know the one in front of the kids) My other lil man decided to climb the tree for this pose. Doesn't he look handsome! Good news about the biopsy on his thumb. It was just a mole..yay.

Son had this mysterious freckle appear last year on his thumb. We thought it was a blood blister. During the summer, we put a needle to it and it was not a blood blister. SO we took him to the doctor to get a referral to a dermatologist as I was going to one to get my nose freckle checked and my dry patch of skin on my ankle. I called in for a sub and off we went to the doctor's today. I was told that I was the master in freckles. I have them up and down my arms. Anyway, I was fine and got some nice medicine for my ankle.  But son...wasn't so lucky. Meet Senor Freckle (above) They drew a circle around Senor Freckle. Then here comes the part where three of us hold him down so Mr. Needle numbs his thumb. Tears form in me as it hurts me to see him in pain.  The dr. takes a silver rectangle thing out and he cut it out. Now we wait for a couple days to see if it is cancerous or not. Hopefully not! Poor boy was really traumatized and he was upset about having to wear a bandaid for 1