Halloween Party

This weekend my friend Brandy and I put together a Halloween party for the kids. This is the first Halloween with kids for most of our friends up here so we wanted an excuse to get all the kids dressed up and hang out together. It turned out to be a fun evening full of lots of great food, friends, pumpkin carving and happy and sad kids. Poor Neal was not feeling very well that night so we hardly got any pictures of him smiling. I think he is working on another tooth which is why he was so teary eyed that night but maybe he just really didn't like being a monkey :)



As you can see below we had a very hard time getting all the kids to stay still for a good photo shoot on the sofa. We tried our best and at least you can see all their cute costumes.



Here is Neal with his friends Kaleb, the puppy and Luke, the cow.



We had so many yummy snacks/desserts. It was fun to have an excuse to make some fun fall/Halloween desserts. Brandy made some cupcakes and decorated them with icing pumpkins and I made a spiderweb cheese cake topped with a candy spider. My mom gave me this guacamole recipe that I tried for the first time also and it was a hit. She told me it was the best guacamole she had ever had and I would have to say I agree, it was the best guacamole I have had so I will be keeping that recipe and making it again in the future.



Neal was so tired that half way through the party we actually put him down for a nap in Jonathan's room and he slept for almost an hour. After his nap he seemed a lot happier and even played some with Kaleb before we left.


We got home that evening in time to pass out a little bit of candy to the few trick-or-treater's that came by our place. It was overall a fun evening. We always have a blast with our close friends and really who doesn't like a party right? By the time we got home Neal felt just good enough to smile for a few "First Halloween" pictures. Doesn't he make the cutest monkey you've ever seen?

Playtime Buddies

A few weekends ago Neal got to have his friend Eli stay the weekend. Eli is two years old and much more active then Neal but they had such a good time together. It was lots more fun to have a friend to play with at all times. Eli and Neal did everything together including eating, playing, reading and bathing. They both learned how to share their toys and both loved to play with Yawkey.





One evening before bed we put on a movie for Eli and all three boys sat on the couch and watched the movie together.


It was fun to get a little glimpse of what life will be like having a two year old in the house. Eli seemed to enjoy himself and must have felt right at home 'cause the whole weekend he called Tyler and I "mom" and "dad." This was cute and a little strange to have a two year old refer to me as mom. Guess I should get use to it since Neal will be at that age before long.

Neal is getting more and more mobile and crawling a lot now. His favorite thing to do is pull himself up onto his knees. He isn't really interested in standing yet but has learned to crawl quite fast if he wants something. If I leave the room for even a moment he is either headed to the puppies water dish or the dog kennel to play with the door. There are some boundaries we are setting in the house of things that he is not allowed to touch. We will see here in the next few weeks how well he catches onto these new rules.



Neal also moved into his new car seat. He seems to really like it and can still take a nap in it on long trips which is perfect. Tonight we were driving over to Tyler's office and Neal was in the back seat "talking" to Yawkey almost the whole time. The new seat allows Neal to see out the windows and what is around him more and with only him and the dog in the back seat he decided playing/talking to the dog was the best thing to do. I thought it was really cute.


I have once again started compiling some new Caribou recipes to try. With a freezer full of Caribou I am constintly on the lookout for new recipes. Last night we had Caribou tacos which were wonderful. Tacos are a staple meal in our home, since it is one of our favorites, and the ground caribou meets works great.


Hopefully I will have some new recipe stories to post in the next few weeks. On the Caribou meal list is: Caribou Chli and Pepper Steaks. We'll see how those turn out :)

Movement

Things have been changing around our house lately. Neal is now 8 months old and is going to be keeping me a lot bussier in the next few weeks.


Just a few weeks ago he learned how to get up on his hands and knees and after just two days of rocking on all fours he learned how to crawl. It is still a lot of work for him and thus he is slowly moving but it didn't take long for him to figure it out so I think that his speed will pick up quickly. I am glad that we have the baby gates installed in the house so I am as ready as possible for this little guy to get around.




The Lord has blessed us so much with such a good little guy. He is continuing to sleep through the night and is so good at taking his naps during the day. I have been dreading the whole teething phase just from hearing stories of some kids who are so uncomfortable during that time. Once again Neal has surprised me because one saturday morning a few weeks ago I saw his first tooth poking through. I didn't even know he was working on a tooth :) He had one or two restless nights which I now think must have been from the discomfort of teething but even with that he simply just needed his binky for comfort. His smile is so cute with his little tooth poking through. I think I may see tooth number two starting to come also :)


Almost all the leaves are off the trees now but the snow isn't here yet so we are continuing to go outside whenever we can. I have pulled out the warmer clothes however and make sure that we all get bundled up nice and warm before going out for a walk in cool weather. We will continue to walk outside as long as possible but once the snow hits we will have to find an indoor place to get exercise and visit with friends.


We are watching a friends 2 year old son, Eli, this weekend so we are going to have lots of activity here for the next few days. Neal loves to have others around him and he and Eli really enjoy playing together so it's gonna be fun. I think Yawkey is even going to enjoy having a new playmate for the weekend. There is sure to be some fun stories and pictures to come from this "sleepover weekend party."

Falling leaves and fun activities

I love this time of year with the fall colors, the sun and the crisp fall air. I wish that it lasted more then just a couple of weeks. We have been having a lot of fun bundling up and enjoying the sunny weather with walks, runs, and play time out in the yard. Neal has found a few activities that he really enjoys doing such as: Reading books, rolling all over the house, talking to his "twin" in the mirror, and grabbing the dogs face and ears.




Needless to say Yawkey has been a bit more hesitant to join me on the sofa if Neal is on my lap but they still get along great.


Along with our daily routine I have started attending Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) on Thursday mornings. Neal gets to come with me and hang out with all the other kids and the wonderful nursery workers while we do our study. God always has great timing 'cause just a few weeks before I decided to join BSF Tyler and I had just mentioned (while reading the book of Isaiah) how we don't really understand Isaiah that well, and of course BSF is on the book of Isaiah this year. So I decided it would be a perfect study for me plus Tyler can read the notes they give us to compliment his bible reading. We are only two weeks into it but I really look forward to Thursday mornings now. It is so refreshing to meet with other ladies/moms and get to talk about the word of God and life without the distraction of kids around. I love my time with Neal and getting to stay home with him but also realized how much I missed good conversation with other women my age without the distraction of children. Neal has loved being around the other kids during our study time also. It is nice to have the chance for him to mingle with others so he can learn to be just as happy without me in the room.


Also, with fall comes a desire for me to cook and bake. I don't know what it is about this time of year but I love spending time in the kitchen. So we have had lots of new recipes for suppers (almost all containing some type of Caribou meat of course) and some delicious goodies as well. Here are just a few pictures of some of the new recipes I've tried.











































So far my favorite: Grilled Pizza. This is the only way I am making pizza from now on - I love the way the crust turnes out on the grill and you can top the pizza with whatever you want. My personal favorite is just tomatoes, basil and cheese. Simply Delicious! I'm thinking Pizza party soon before winter arrive :)

Tubby Games

Neal loves to play one game while in the tubby - pushing the stacking cups off the side of the tub. So this is what we do. He tries so hard to get everyone off the side of the tub that he sometimes twists himself around and ends up like the picture below.




He is always doing something to make me smile or laugh

First Caribou Creation

Well with a freezer full of Caribou you can only imagine what we are eating a lot of around here. So for my first attempt at preparing a Caribou dinner we decided to cook up some homemade Caribou brats. I was surprised with the outcome - a delicious dinner!

First we boiled them in beer and onions.

Next threw them on the Gril

Then topped them with hot mustard and ate them with a fresh green salad.

So one meal tried, tested and successful so we'll see how the next few Caribou dishes go.

Caribou...lots and lots of Caribou

Tyler got back about a week ago from the great Caribou hunt of 2010. He went with about 17 other guys way out to the brooks range (I think this is where they were at) for a 10 day Caribou hunting trip and they were successful. Tyler left with very little.


But he sure came home with a lot of Caribou. Tyler got 3 Caribou and between all 17 guys their group got a grand total of 35 Caribou. It was quite the scene when they come home with all these antlers on the back of the truck.


When they arrive home I knew what that next day, and all weekend for that matter, would hold - Caribou meat processing. All day Saturday was spent cutting up 35 Caribou and packaging them into Roasts, Steaks and meat to be ground into hamburger. Since I hate touching raw meat this was not a "party" that I was looking forward to which led to perk number one of the day - having a kid. I got to be the babysitter for my nieces, nephew and Neal while everyone else got to participate in the processing "party" . Neal joined them outside for little while while I was running to the store for more supplies. He didn't seem to mind the smell or the rain.



After that all day event we came home with two ice chests full of meat ready to be ground into hamburger and one and a half ice chests full of packaged Roasts, Steaks, Loins, and Backstraps ready for the freezer.



The next day Tyler spend all day processing the remaining meat into hamburger and Brats. The perk of having a kid again came into play as I was able to stay home with Neal while Tyler went to do all the processing. However now that all the processing is done work has started for me. I now get to cook all of this meat this winter (the freezer is completely full with nothing but Caribou meat - Like I said there is a lot):


So look for some fun posts to come showing the different ways that I get creative making Caribou - 'cause we will be having lots of Caribou in this house. It sure is nice to have a freezer full of meat