The dog ate my gingerbread house
Murphy dog probably developed his fondness for sweets grazing on Alaskan blueberries
Bran, Grandma Kris, Sawyer and Caleb doing gingerbread houses
We did gingerbread houses this year. The boys love to do them and this year we had Grandma Kris to help! Yes, we brought in 'a ringer'. For weeks Caleb would see a food item or candy and ask if he could put it on his creation. He was a little obsessed by it (...wonder where he gets that from). I think Sawyer was more interested in eating his, although he was getting pretty bossy with Grandma when she would put the frosting in the wrong spot...."Not there Grandma, right here (and it would be a millimeter off from where she put it). He is a detail guy. Kris and I did a Christmas castle. Hopefully you can see these photos as they are copies from the newspaper, I'll try to post better ones.So anyway the real kicker of the story is that Murphy ate Sawyer's roof off his house. No joke. We had tucked the houses out of the way (or so we thought) in the laundry room and the night before Branden noticed that Sawyer house was half-gone. There was not a single crumb! It was as if someone or something had vacuumed up after themselves....it took us a minute or two before we realized what had happened. Of course Murphy was acting very sheepish. He probably ingested 10 lbs. of candy, royal frosting, gingerbread, etc. We had no time to bake a new roof so we just took it as is w/ a picture explaining what happened. It was a good thing that Murphy didn't touch our castle because I might have taken him to the shelter.
This isn't the first time Murphy has been linked to sweet-eating crimes. In 2006 when we were staying at Kris's house. She was making a wedding cake for Jill (her niece) and 3 or 4 tiers of it went missing. Again, not a single crumb was left but Murphy, Smokey & Gizzy were the only plausible explanations. B and I were doubtful when it happened that Murphy acted alone but we are now believers.
And just the other day, my friend brought over a tub of homemade Alaskan blueberry ice cream, which I put on the back porch (nature's freezer). The next day the lid was off and there was a strange sheen to it and a big, smooth crater out of the center. If you notice the top picture, Murphy has a big tongue.
Ode to Tchaikovsky
Violet, Ronin, Caleb & Stella at the Nutcracker.
FYI. I thought this was interesting...
Caleb's favorite part was the battle scene when the Mouse King gets killed. There was lots
of action, swords, loud noises, etc. Except he wanted it to be a Rat King and not a mouse king
because he loves mice.
The Arabian dance is my favorite, I love the swarthiness of the oboe.
I get a little choked up when I hear it for some reason. Actually, seeing
the Nutcracker makes me a little sentimental. It reminds me of Christmas
in Boise, going to see at the Morrison Center, dressing up, drinking
hot chocolate during the intermission and my mom wildly, air-directing
the Nutcracker March to a pretend orchestra...ah, the memories.
Choo-Choo
One of our favorite things to do is go to Pioneer Park & the Train Museum which is a minute from our house. They put the trains away for the winter but every December they bring one out and we go for a ride...no matter the temperature. This year we lucked out as it was slightly zero. So we all huddled in and sat under blankets. The trains are open air and the air is bitingly cold. out eyes were watering. Branden & I kept looking at each other, both thinking but not saying aloud.... why do we do this? It is too cold for open-air train rides! After the ride we eat terrible, store-bought, hydrogenated-laden sugar cookies and drink hot chocolate and sit on Santa's lap. A few years ago we all sat on his lap and that is the picture they use to advertise the event. There is one of Sawyer at 9 months, agog at Santa almost on the verge of bursting into tears. In the summer time we hear the train whistles everyday. "Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance, everybody thinks it is true".........(name that song?) So we feel connected to the trains I guess. Anyway, I digress.......As soon as Caleb got with ear shot of Santa, he started rattling off all the gifts he wanted (like Ralphy in the Christmas Story). Sawyer was more amused by 'the Grinch' roasting chestnuts on a BBQ outside the museum.
on the new deck
pickin' blueberries
fair time & giant cabbagges
kisses
first day of school
raspberry picking with Auntie
Bridger baby
the boys and sunflowersI am a slacker, big time slacker. However, I do have several excuses as to why I am so lame but I will spare you the details......
Summer came and went, we had a glorious summer. It was hot and dry, Branden was busy and we picked lots of berries. We had a visit from my mom and Amie, both of which were wonderful.
We are having an extended fall at the moment. Three weeks ago it looked like winter was here to but the weather turned and there is no snow, leaves are on the trees and our grass is even a vibrant green. The tramp is still up for Pete's sake and it is October 8th! This time last year the tramp was a distant memory. At the moment Dennis and Diana are here for a visit and the boys are loving it. Caleb has a special bond with his "Daddy Grandpa" and I there will be lots of tears when they go. Diana is wishing for snow for her photography shoot and I am sure she will jinx us with it. No, no snow.
The boys are both in preschool. Caleb loves it and Sawyer likes it when he gets there, but it takes a fair amount of coaxing and bribing to get him out of the house. When we ask what they learned at school, they reply "everything, I learned everything today".
Bridger baby is a little butterball. He is fat and happy, sleeping through the night and is in that really cute cooing, laughing stage (where it makes you want have another baby stage). I just want to squeeze him (not too hard of course).
Bran built a deck of the front of the house, a shed out back, got a moose and is now taking some time off.
Life is good.......and we feel blessed
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