Halloween Happenings

Ready for some costumed kids? I haven't purchased anything new for several years. I just have a few big boxes of old costumes and I told the kids to find something they wanted to wear. As in past years, the different celebrations got different costumes. First up with the church "Trunk or Treat" which WAS actually a trunk or treat (out of car trunks) this year. The Mario costume was quite snug on Colton, but he wanted to match Jacob's Luigi outfit. For the school celebration and parade, Cooper was a convict and Colton an NBA star (with a broken wrist). We actually got the cast off after school, so he didn't have to be a ninja with a cast that evening. Cooper was a dragon.  Keaton was Darth Vadar again, but he was off trick-or-treating with friends, so I didn't get a picture that night. 

Halloween day, I spent several hours over at the school. First observing the Halloween Parade. Being on D track, we'd never really been able to participate in this activity. Then I ran the party for Cooper's Class. We split up into groups and rotated through the game stations. Bone Bender, Cup Crash, Monster Toss, Memory, Pictureeka, Pass the Pumpkin and Make a Mummy. Donuts and Witch's brew were the refreshments (the kids were quite in awe of the smoke and bubbles coming from the cauldron ... just fruit punch and dry ice).  My t-shirt was as dressed up as I got. I put Grayson on supervising duty as the kids went out around the neighborhood. The ran from house to house until Colton was in need of a drink. While at one of the houses we knew well, the kids were able to get a drink of water. Colton told Daddy "That was the best house and the best treat!"  Back at home, I had Landon man the door and I took the night off. The kids got a lot of candy. Yum.

Aunt Livi's Leaving & a Final Haircut

Before 

After

Gray's sister Olivia is going on a mission. I'm not sure what we're going to do without our hairstylist for 18 months! I had some shaggy boys. Olivia said she would give them a final haircut before she left. Here's the "before" and "after" ...  Thanks Aunt Livi.

The farewell talk was October 13

The Family Farewell Party (and birthday celebration) was October 27

Olivia entered the MTC on October 30

Good Luck Sister Blackham!

I've Been Baking ...

I don't know what it is about Fall. The cooler temperatures just make me want to turn on the oven and whip up something sweet. And that's exactly what I've done. I been baking this past week .. Cookie Press Cookies are Keaton's favorite. I had to buy a complete new set a couple years ago JUST to get the cute pumpkin shape.

 Homemade Oreos 

These are a staple ...

I pretty much make them every Sunday.

Banana Bread ... I like to keep bananas on hand for eating, but they so often start to go bad. Then I make banana bread and muffins.

Cinnamon Rolls

Mmmmm ... these were yummy!

I set aside a little dough for scones too.

 Chocolate Chip Muffins
We'd been a fan of the boxed Betty Crocker mix.
I'd stocked up on blueberry muffin mix during a recent sale,
but my store didn't have any chocolate chip.
I made these babies from scratch.
The boys said they liked Betty's better.
Go figure!

Gingersnaps

A family favorite from my side.

#1 son actually made the dough by request from a friend.

He left a little for our family to enjoy too.

Carb overload I know ... it was all so yummy. NOT a good thing for me, on my weight loss journey (Jen's Journey). With all the baking this week, I needed to restock our sugar supply. I went downstairs and grabbed a 25 pound of sugar from the storage room and lugged it up the stairs. It was heavy!

But as I carried the bag of sugar up the stairs,

I was hit with a realization.

25 pounds is what I've lost so far.

I'm so glad I'd not lugging around an extra 25 pounds every single day.

I'd like to lose another big bag of sugar.

I probably should cut back on the baking.

I thought I'd link up with What I Ate Wednesday today.

Does the cooler weather inspire you to bake more?

Miscellaneous Memories

Like Father Like Son

As I've tried to update the blog, I found a few photos that hadn't ever made it onto their own individual blog post. So here's a little catch-up collection to get them in ... In the picture above, Colton came out and proudly announced "I look just like Daddy" and he did!

Gray and I went out on a date and tried to capture the moment with a photo. It took a few tries. That man makes me laugh.

Sorting Socks. As the odd ones come out of the dryer, I just put them in a drawer, and then every couple of months we'll go through and try to match things up. It isn't so much that the dryer eats the socks ... it's the Cooper takes them off all over the house and leaves them laying around.

Tag Trouble

Cooper does NOT like tags.

We moved some of the older boy's shirts into his closet, 

and I had to cut off all the tags.

 A Collection of Cousins

General Conference Sunday ... Addie was the only girl!

Red Ribbon Week ... Nerd Day. Landon fully took part. It was crazy hair day for the munchkins. We added a little color, which made baths that night a little interesting! The middle school is having theirs this week, although I'm not sure Callahan and Keaton will participate (where is their school spirit?!)

There's just a few of the random photos that have been happening at the Blackham home lately!

Lake Powell

 ... I am a little slow getting this post up. It actually happened over the UEA weekend. Gray really wanted to get the wave runners out for a final ride, but most of the reservoirs around here were too low. A work buddy was going to Lake Powell, and the government had just opened up the national parks again, so Gray and the the older boys decided to give it a try. Keaton was originally going to go too, but when Daddy said they were going to get fitted for wetsuits, that intimidated him right out of the trip.  Colton might have been interested, but it wouldn't have been very fun for him with his cast on. 

The weather was nice ... a little cool (the did want the wetsuits). They even had a boat and a houseboat. All three boys came home with some nice color, although Callahan peeled pretty quickly after.  Maybe next year we can make it a family affair.

My Soccer Star

For the past several seasons, Colton has played soccer with his two buddies Randon and Bradley. But Bradley has now moved, and Randon was trying his hand at flag football. So we were on our own. We did end up having a little neighbor gal on the same team, and there were a few kids from Terra Linda as well (although Colton didn't know them before soccer season started). 

Ambree (our neighbor) was in California on picture day.

Silly Colton ... has to make a face!

As you might be aware ... Colton broke his wrist mid-season, so he missed a few games. The doctor did give the ok for him to play with the cast on, so he did take part in the final game.  I got three of the games on video and made a little muvee that definitely shows Colton in action! He's my little soccer star. I love to watch him play. If you have a couple of minutes, check out his highlights!

Herriman Homecoming

Landon's Senior Homecoming dance was a few weeks ago ... There had been several school's homecoming dances in September, and I saw many mom's posting about them on Facebook or on their blogs.  Landon recently got his pictures back, so now I have something to post.

I wasn't too involved in Landon's date ... I guess it's a little different with a son, than with a daughter (although some mom's got much more involved than I did, they had pictures the day of the dance!). There's no dress shopping, or pictures at the pickup. Landon left ... and then was home later that night.  I'm glad he at least shared the dance picture with me.

Even the asking he did all on his own. He bought a white shirt and wrote a bunch of boy's names on it with washable marker. HIS name he wrote with permanent ink (he did test this process before going through with it). Landon wrote a little poem about how his would be date would need to wash the shirt to find out who was asking her to the dance. 

He said it was a fun night ... it's hard to believe he's a SENIOR!

No More Brace Face

Yea ... Callahan FINALLY got his braces off! He was sure counting down to the day (Oct 8). He did have them on longer than most kids. He got them on Feb 2010 (Hello Brace Face). It was a little early, we were trying to use up some flexible spending money that we would have otherwise lost. But for poor Callahan, it meant that he had braces on for over three years. If I had to do it again, I'd definitely wait until he was ready for sure (as it was, we had to wait until certain teeth came in to be able to get the work done).  He's got retainers now ... so if he talks with a little lisp, don't tease him!

Colton's Cast

I got the dreaded call from school. Colton had fallen at recess and had hurt his arm. I went to the school and he did seem to be in pain, cradling his left wrist. He's a pretty tough kid and usually shakes off any minor injury, so I was a bit concerned. I took him home, did the whole R.I.C.E. thing, and gave him some medication.  It was a bit of a crazy afternoon/evening. I had to turn back around, back to the school to grab Cooper. Then I had to rush to the middle school for conferences for Callahan and Keaton (not "Parent/Teacher conferences ... Student Lead Conferences. Although we did check in with a couple of Keaton's teachers). Then Callahan had basketball practice. I dropped him off ... then, as Colton was still hurting, took him in for an x-ray.

The first instacare we tried didn't have it's lab tech there, so we had to go to another, further one in Riverton. They examined him and took an x-ray, but the doctor didn't think it was broken. So we went home. Colton missed his soccer game that night.

Colton's wrist was still tender, so I pulled out an old wrist brace we had from when Cooper had broken his arm. He went off to school. I got a call from the instacare saying the radiologist had looked at the x-ray, and the ortho guy on staff and it WAS broken and we needed to get Colton back in for a cast.

It's a "buckle" fracture, not a full break. Imagine an old, dry branch ... you bend it and it breaks. But a young, green branch, if you bend it,while you can see where you bent it, it doesn't break all the way through. 

The munchkin was going to go for blue for his cast, but I suggested orange, as he'd have it all during the month of October. He agreed that was a good idea. It matched his shirt for a good photo op too.

So luckily it IS his left hand. And it sounds like it should be a quick healing fracture. We're scheduled to go back in November 1 to get it off. No multiple visits like most of the other breaks the Blackham boys have gone through. I am sad though, Colton was my only unbroken boy.

Fall Sports

It's Fall. Fall Ball is in full swing. Landon is simply supporting his school team as a spectator (he went and watched a football game on a night it was so cold and rainy!) but the three middle boys are playing basketball, while Colton is playing soccer (they don't have basketball for his age).  It's been a bit of a juggling act trying to coordinate all the schedules, but really only Cooper and Colton have games on Saturdays (Keaton will, but they haven't started up yet). Keaton's team is playing in a Wednesday night league, and Callahan plays Thursday nights. Between practices and open gym, we're running around most nights, but making it all work.  I have all the schedules stuck to the filing cabinet in the den and made sure they are all entered into my iphone calendar. 

I've gone back to updating the Hoop Dreams blog ... there you can find all the info on the boy's basketball, with links to their video highlights.  I have made muvees of several of the games so far. It's a great way to catch all the fun stuff without the time and travel investment.

I'll make a video for Colton's soccer at the end of his season.

Go Blackham Boys!