Easiest Costumes Ever

Stephanie isn't wearing her glasses in this picture, but it is OK.  One of the perks of being twins is that you can do something fun like this.  Their costumes cost about $10 total for the 2 shirts and the iron letters and took about 5 minutes total to make.  Loved how easy it was and people thought it was clever and funny.

Pumpkins

We started off with 4 pumpkins to carve but one ended up altered by a friend that was over and then it just wasn't fun to carve anymore.  This was probably good because it was a booger to cut.  Ben was nice enough to let his sister have his pumpkin to carve, again, probably a good thing because he could focus on an assignment that earned extra credit if turned in early.

Jessica's Bunny Pumpkin

 Stephanie's Owl Pumpkin

She has a marble jewel that the photo didn't capture.

 Becca's Cat with a Pumpkin

Chili Cook-off and Bake-off

The sign-up went around for our fall festival for the chili cook-off and the bake-off.  I signed up for the chili and the twins signed up for the bake-off.  The kids asked me if I thought I would win and I told them probably not. I figured the chili won in Albuquerque because of the BBQ sauce and they love the BBQ out there.  Much to my surprise, it won here.  There were at least 19 chili pots entered in the contest.  Could have been more, I just know one of the winners was #19.  One of the judges told me the next day that my chili was a toss up between most original and best overall.   Then he asked me if the recipe was a secret or would I share.  I'm always happy to pass along a recipe.

Stephanie and Jessica made Mississippi Mud Cake and much to our chagrin, they didn't win but it was dang good.  Makes me wonder why we don't make it more often.  I'm sure they will try again if the opportunity presents itself.

Promised Pictures

Different poses than what I've shared with you.  There are some fun ones.  Love the last picture we had made up for Rad.  

Art of Sand 2011

More side pictures, which I'm reading there isn't a fix for.  If you are on FB with me, you can look at them there if it is too bothersome.  I hope they add a rotate button sometime when they update things.  Another impressive showing of talent and sand.  The theme this year was travel.

This first picture shows the process of creating a sand sculpture.

 The next piece was being worked on.

Telephone/Chinese Whispers - once I read the title, I understood this side of the sculpture with the different heads whispering into the next ones ear.

 The back side of the Telephone/Chinese Whispers sculpture.

 Life On the Rails was inspired by the book Water for Elephants focusing on a traveling circus.

Time Travel - loved the front with the baby face and the back with an older man.

 

Hold Your Breath - I'm thinking the same sculptor did this piece that did 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Last Year.  It looks somewhat similar.  They noted that the ocean has only recently been explored and 95% of it has yet to be explored.

Circe - inspired by The Odyssey and Circe who turned men into animals.

 The Flying Canoe - a French/Canadian tale of travelers that make a deal with the devil.

 Route 66:  The American Way

Galaxy Dreams - This and Route 66 are my favorite.  I like this because you have a young boy on one side looking at the stars and the other side is an astronaut.

History Spiritual Journey - The Grand Chief and tribe Sorcerer are introducing a child to the great spiritual journey. He has to invoke the Great Spirit among all as eagles, totem, bear, bison, turtles and many others before becoming a great sage.

Daily Commute - the front has people coming out of the building and walking around to the back where they enter the building.

A Waking Dream - as the girl dreams with her eyes open she is dematerialized and travels slowly into her dream world, abandoning reality.

Fly High

This first picture cracks me up!  We had to go to the park to fly the helicopter and will continue to until flying it is mastered.  They tried flying it out back for the first time and it ended up on the roof.  Fortunately, it slid down and didn't break in the fall.  Flying this helicopter is harder than it looks.  It is unpredictable, but it has been breezy and I'm sure that makes it harder.  There were times they held off flying at the park due to the wind.

Girls' Birthday

 Jessica wanted to decorate a cake with Stephanie for their birthday.  They decided to have it as a 2-layer cake instead of each having their own layer to decorate.  Jessica wanted the cake to say "Happy Birthday" on it and Stephanie didn't care.  So they divided the cake in half and did what they wanted to as far as decorating went.

It turned out interesting but it was yummy all the same.

Stephanie bought Jessica a helicopter.  Jessica has been asking for a remote control car or helicopter for a while.  The problem with a lot of what is out there is it is too young for Jessica.  She wants the real deal.

Yet another side upload.  You are going to come to expect it now. Jessica bought Stephanie a camera.  Kind of funny story, when we were shopping for the camera, the salesperson asked her if she had any questions about the camera.  He was told it was being bought because it is green, not for what it can do.

Another birthday to reflect on how they are growing.