Dear Taste of Home....

I have entered your Maraschino cherry contest this month. You are looking for cherries recipes for drinks and/or snacks, or desserts. You said BE CREATIVE!! Use the whole cherry! And so I give you this: The chocolate mouse. I have taken not only the whole cherry, but am utilizing the stem as well. The stem being his tail of course. After dipping the cherry in delicious chocolate sauce, I have attached a Hershey Kiss for the mouses head. And then have taken two sliced almond pieces and made ears. A littel dab of red icing on the tip of the kiss for a nose and brother, you have got yourself one creative looking, tasty edible mouse! And so please pick me. I'm putting the winning money into a 'Go to Disneyland fund' for the kids.

We made a few for FHE and Mason took one to his teacher the next day. Talk about instant coolness for my boy! And he made one for her all by himself which made him feel pretty proud.

And the croup has gone away!!!!!! Please don't come back. I don't want sick kids for Halloween. Or Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. Or ever.

Without fail...

There are some things that I know without fail. For example, I know that Christmas will be on December 25th. I know that in this lifetime I will want dessert over fruit,(combine the two and then everyone wins) :) and I know that Nat will get the croup this winter...just like she has every winter since she was born. And maybe I'm more worried about it because of the H1N1 piggie flu that is out there. And then when I read the news and it claims that this flu has killed another child and how terribly bad it is. She got it early this year. We're usually lucky and wait for it after Christmas, but alas, I woke the night before last to the dreaded "seal" cough followed by runny nose and tears. And all I can do is sleep on the floor with the humidifier on and wait until morning, because for some reason she's fine during the day. I remember when she was a babe and I'd wrap her up in the middle of the night and go stand outside in the dead of winter to thump her chest. You'd think they'd discover a croup medicine to help speed the process along. Oh well, though because she's alive and medium well. PIGGIE FLU STAY AWAY!!!!

And finally...

So we had a visiting teaching academy award night. We were suppose to put on our "best dress". I put on my moms 1975 bridesmaid dress, slicked my hair, and tied a scarf around my head. But Tyler and I were a musical number. We chose Olivia Newton Johns "I love you" song. Sounds corny I know, but watch the clip.

Wait for it....

Wait for it, wait for it......it's coming.

Stay tuned

What happens when you're put in charge of a musical number a WEEK before the big Enrichment activity....? Stay tuned my friends, you'll find out tomorrow. :) :)

Long time

Yes, it's been a long time since I posted last. Tyler's mom came on the 2nd and we have been lucky enough to have her stay until the 12th. His dad came last night. We love when family or anybody comes for a visit. Our house is open to everybody. We are having a very good visit. I took her to see Wicked last Friday night. We had seats 10 rows from the stage! It is so amazing! She loved it of course and we chatted about it for most of the drive home. We have gone to soccer games, and watched conference in our p.j.s, and picked fresh blackberries with the kids. Then we made a lemon and cream cheese pie with fresh blackberries on top. Is your mouth watering? And yes it was fantastic! Tomorrow we are heading up to Canada for Thanksgiving. Bonus for me right? Marry a Canadian, get 2 thanksgivings. Yeah for mashed potatoes and rolls, boo for the expanding belt size. Anyway, I sure love family and I sure love visits.