Blue Yonder

Three Little Punkins

and all 30 fingers still intact.  

I think I held my breath the entire time that they carved. 

This is the first year they've had the idea that this is something they want to do themselves. Must all this growing up happen every single stinking DAY? 

They aren't yet so big as they think though. All three petered our after a few jabs and mom and dad took over. 

In other news, we've managed to decide on and FINISH all three costumes without having spent more than about $6 (a bag of pony beads and a Goodwill hat). A girl could be moved to faith in the Great Pumpkin with all these Halloween miracles! 

3 lovely Jacks, 30 more lovely fingers, and three little men, dressed and ready. 

 

Let the revelry begin! 

Tough Like a Teenager

We were going to get haircuts, and I knew precisely where it would lead. 

More begging from my smallest... 

"Please???? Please can I have a buzz? PLEASE?"

He said he only wanted hair "this big."

But then "this big" got smaller and smaller. 

When my older two where his age, they wanted long hair, "like surfers." And I was totally down with that. It was easy to let them do their own hair thing, because I liked it. 

It's a lot harder to say yes to their choices when they aren't the ones that you would make for them. 

But.... there's nothing morally wrong, irreversible, damaging or inherently "bad" about buzzing one's hair, and it is, after all, only hair. 

Add to that the fact that this is my kid who has to feel like he's being given freedoms and choices, or he will demonstrate his own power in ways that are usually not so beneficial to himself or those around him. 

To me, it was the loss of the last vestiges of his baby-ness, which really aren't mine to keep. To him,it was the power to make a big decision for himself. 

Sigh. 

I stood by, and I told him how handsome he looked while all his precious hair fell to the ground. 

And when he left the room. I cried my eyes out. 

He just looks. so. big. 

I don't care for that much. 

On the other hand, I do enjoy the pride and confidence that just shines through when he says, grinning, with all his might, "mama, don't I look tough like a teenager?"

Oh boy. 

The good news is, his little squishy baby neck is a lot more accessible for mama's smooching :-)

Ode To Joy

You know what's wonderful?

It's wonderful that from here until eternity I will hear "Ode To Joy" and remember this day... the day that a little boy in a Commanche Brave costume that he had a big hand in making, took the stage for his first fiddle recital. 

He was pretty nervous about the whole thing, and wondered more than once why he can't just play the fiddle "without doing it in front of anybody?"

And now he knows... because then he wouldn't have experienced the triumph of nailing every note, taking his bow amid all the clapping, coming home to a kitchen full of balloons, pizza and pineapple, silly string, Shirley Temples in jack o'lantern cups and even a trophy, that Mama and Daddy had made just for a rockin' little fiddler. 

For me at least, "Ode to Joy" won't bring to mind Beethoven or concert halls or grand orchestras... that particular arrangement of notes will always sing to me (and I'm guessing to him) of a sweet little seven year old boy who triumphed. 

And The Winners Are... (and a consolation prize)

Without further ado, here's what the wise and powerful number generator had to say: 

 

So, Ms. Commenter Number 8, Cynthia of Hippie Housewife, you have won the gorgeous Bridgeman Pottery butter dish! 

And, commenter number 170, Christine of My Life With Boys , you will soon be the proud owner of "Knead It, Punch It, Bake it!"

Ladies, please email me with your mailing information, and I will get your goodies to you. 

Our thanks to every one of y'all, for playing along. I can't tell you how much fun it was for us to see so many folks stopping by to say hello. Come back and chat sometimes okay? No more lurking about. It's much more fun to sit a spell and shoot the breeze with ya!

We all thought that it would be nice to be able to give something to EVERYONE for participating. My oldest said, "maybe we could send 'em all a ribbon or something?"

Well it's a nice thought, but it might pose some execution problems. 

Instead, we thought we'd share our secret for two of our favorite quick breads... in keeping with the theme, you see. 

One of the winners of my last contest told us about her family's "homemade bisquick." My little taste testers were immediate fans. 

It goes like this: You just mix 10 cups of All Purpose flour (I changed ours to half whole wheat, half white flour),6 TBL of baking powder, 1 TBL salt ( or maybe a little less), then cut in 1 1/2 cups of shortening (I use the Spectrum Shortening now). 

We've used it for biscuits and waffles and pancakes of course, but decided to do a little experimenting with it. 

After some trial and error, we came up with a couple of great go-to recipes... Pumpkin Bread and Banana Bread, using our "Bisquick". 

Pumpkin Bread: 

1/3 cup Canola oil

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

1/4 cup water

2 TBSP flax seed

1/2 cup honey

2 1/2 cups homemade (or store bought, if you must) Bisquick. 

2 tsp ground cinnamon

and some "fun stuff" if you like, (try either 1/2 cup raisens or 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips and 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts)

Heat your oven to 325 F. 

Mix the water and flax and allow to set. 

Mix together the oil, pumpkin, egg and honey. Add in the flax/water mixture. Now add your cinnamon into the measured out Bisquick and mix, then fold that into the pumpkin/honey goo. At this point you can add in your "fun" ingredients, if you choose to. 

Pour into a greased 9X5 pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  

And now for the Banana Bread: 

In the above recipe, substitute about 3 good sized mashed ripe bananas for the pumpkin, 1 tsp vanilla for the cinnamon. The rest is exactly the same! Both of these recipes work great as muffins too. 

Again, thanks so much for playing along everyone! We hope your weekend is warm, toasty and delicious!

Oh, and p.s. You NEED to check out Molly's "One Good Loaf" journey, and share it!

Making Tracks

Good Friday Morning Y'all! Only a moment to stop in and remind you to sign up for the contest if you haven't already. 

My men are pushing my slow to wake up self out the door this morning for a little sleuthing. 

Ever since my guys found deer tracks a while back, they've been itchin' to make casts of them, and to see if they can't find more animal tracks too. 

So today, we're going to hit the trail with little bags of plaster and our new (old) trusty animal tracking guide. 

Of course we're also going to take along some essential tracker supplies like banana bread, apples, and peanut butter just in case we give up the hunt and decide to make it a picnic instead :-)

Hopefully we'll have some casts to show and tell soon though. 

Until tomorrow then, when I'll be back to announce the winners, have a wonderful journey wherever your day's path takes you!