Halloween recap

So here are some pictures of the kids on Halloween. Liam was a Star Wars Clone Trooper (Clone Wars is huge around our house right now). And Cooper was a Police Officer (or a member of The Village People). We went trunk-or-treating and then hit a couple of houses in the neighborhood. They got just the right amount of candy - not too much, but enough to last for a while. It was beautiful weather and they had a ton of fun.

guess who is allergic to penicillin?

(click on the pictures to get a better idea of the spots) Poor kid. He's been on amoxicillin for a week and yesterday he woke up spotted - rushed him to the doc and lo and behold, he's allergic to the penicillin family. We have the Allergy team here - Mike is allergic to a lot of things, Cooper has the serious Nut Allergy and now this. I feel bad for Liam - he went to school this morning but insisted he needed to stay home because the 'kids will laugh at him'. Well, he does look pretty funny. At least its a short day today......

The Doctor's office said the spots should last for 5-6 days. Until then we pump him full of Zyrtec, which tends to make him drowsy. Ah, kids. If its not one thing, its another. Never a dull moment.

Yes, I am quirky, too.

I was tagged by Sheri for this one. List 6 quirky things about yourself. Here goes:

1. I have to sleep with something on my feet - and I don't mean socks. I have to have weight on my feet. So right now I put two throw pillows at the foot of the bed and put my feet under them to sleep. Lame, I know.

2. I've had stitches in my head on 3 different occasions. Lets just say I am a bit of a klutz.

3. My left foot is 1/2 shoe size bigger than my right. Shoe shopping sucks.

4. I am totally a food texture person and I HATE slimy food. Food I won't eat because its too slimy: tapioca, cooked oatmeal, flan (you get the idea).

5. I love getting things in the mail. Whether it is a new magazine or a catalog that I won't buy from or a card from my grandma - its like a little surprise every day!

6. I come from a long line of people whose names start with B. My maiden name is Ball. It started with my grandparents, Bud and Betty Ball. Then my dad, Blaine, has two brothers, Ben and Brad. My mother is Barbra and I have a sister, Brandy, and a brother, Brandon. Don't get me started on cousins and nieces and nephews. Needless to say, putting our initials (B.B.) on things never worked in our house.

Okay, those are just a few of my quirks. I am tagging Sabrina, Apryl, and Lynette.

food storage

So since the economy took a nosedive I've been very impressed to get our food storage up to par (I know, after years of hearing it from Church leaders it finally clicked). When we were in Idaho about 3 weeks ago, my mom had TONS of apples. It was a good year for apples and she has 5 apple trees at her house and my grandma also has some. So while we were there I made 21 pints of applesauce. She then sent me home with apples, and we snacked on them until we were sick of them. I made some butterscotch apple dip, and some apple dumplings. Then I took the rest of the apples and made 6 batches of apple pie filling (so easy, and you freeze it). Then today I took the 4 freezer bags of raspberries that she gave me and made 2 batches of freezer jam. I've been shopping the sales and Costco trying to fill our freezer and guess what - IT IS FULL. I still would like to get some more meat - there is only chicken and ground beef out there right now, but it is a start. So anyone reading have any great canning and/or freezer recipes to share? :)

And our DSL has been up and down for the last week. Hoping to get a chance to get on the phone with our ISP to get it straightened out, but usually you need about 90 free minutes and so I've found it challenging - might not get to it until Friday when Mike is here. If you've emailed and I haven't responded, its probably because the email didn't download yet or my reply hasn't gone out yet.

Coop's first day of preschool

Since I am currently a baseball widow (the Dodgers are in the playoffs), I thought I'd post again - this time showing Cooper's pictures from the first day of preschool. He loves, loves, loves, preschool, especially his teachers, Ms. Jenn and Ms. Marlow (who he insisted was actually named Marshmallow). Here are some pictures of his big day, taken before he left for school, and immediately after.

Showing off his new shoes and new shirt!


And new 'spikey hair'!


Showing me his art project from the first day.


Cooper gives preschool a big thumbs up!

Coop's soccer experience

This year we decided to give Tiny Tots soccer a try. We figured since Liam got to do Flips at age 3, Cooper needed to try something as well. For those who don't know, Tiny Tots soccer is a team of 3 year olds, playing 3 on 3 soccer. The rules are pretty loose, and the games are MUCH shorter, and they only play a total of 4 games in the Fall and 4 in the Spring. Cooper LOVED the first game. As he says, he 'got two scores'. If you look closely at this picture, you can see him scoring the first goal. He is immediately to the left of Mike's watch. He was so pumped up after that goal - he had a blast.

Game 2 he lost a bit of interest but would still chase after the ball and try to kick it. Game 3 I had to miss but Mike said in the first quarter a kid on the opposing team was tackling and took Cooper down. Coop refused to play the rest of the game. Game 4 my mom, Mike's mom, and Denise (my brother's wife), were there to see Coop play. Again, he refused. "I HATE soccer," was all he'd say when we'd try to get him on the field. Hopefully next Spring he'll not remember the tackling incident. Here are a few more pictures of him in all his Soccer glory!

Here he is running to make the second goal of the first game.

He is a quick little bugger.




Getting ready for a big kick!





And here we are at the last game, Mike trying to get him to play. Doesn't he look thrilled?

I was tagged

I was tagged by the awesome Apryl to go to my photos and pick the 4th photo from the 4th folder. I thought it would be a way older photo than it is, but the way my folders came up, it is one from last year. Not a great one, but here it is.

This photo was one that I took during t-ball season of 2007. Liam's team was the Reds. I was trying to get his jersey number (3) as he sat waiting for his turn to bat. Not a great photo, I really should have deleted it. Oh well. Now it is my turn to tag some people. So I tag Sheri, Sabrina, Lynette, Heather, Jenefer and Angelique. Go show me some photos, girls.