Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008


OK, once again, I’ve been really busy with Watchmen stuff and so now while I have a day or two of downtime, I’m finally going to try catching up on the blog a little. Today, I’ll be catching you up on our Christmas activities, but our Christmastime Disneyland Trip Report will not be showing up for a little while—it’s much more labor-intensive and I want to do it right! I’ve got some great video from Disneyland, (as well as video of us telling the kids we’re leaving at 6am). Plus, I’m still trying to recover from our Hellish 33-hour trip home from California.
Early in December, we took a trip up to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.


Abe is OBSESSED with Christmas lights. When driving around, if he sees lights on houses, he starts yelling excitedly. We’ve considered prescription medication to counteract that behavior.
We also made a gingerbread house, using a kit from Wal-Mart rather than going the homemade route.


It went OK, but next time we need to follow the instructions, like where it says “Wait 15 minutes (for the walls and roof frosting to dry) before decorating.” This is what happens if you DON’T wait:


Since we have our own condo, we feel more like decorating, so we put up some decorations above the kitchen:


Of course we decorated our tree, with our ever-increasing collection of ornaments. Obviously, the best ornament of all is my self-portrait head, made in the mid-1980’s:


OK, to Christmas Eve:
Christmas Eve we had a Mexican Fiesta Potluck at Judy’s house (for the Peterson Family party), complete with Enchiladas, Chimichangas, Pollo Mascado (Chewed-Up Chicken), Chips and Salsa, and Egg Nog Cake. We exchanged gifts and had a fun time, overall. Then we headed home and had our own Christmas Eve festivities, including reading the story of the Nativity, letting the kids open up 2 presents each (a new book and a pair of pajamas), and get the stockings ready.


We exchanged names this year, so Maddy bought for Abe’s stocking, Joel got for Maddy’’s, and Abe got for Joel’s (and Amanda and I got each other’s). So on Christmas Eve, they each took a turn going into my room and filling the person’s stocking, then we brought it out to the front room, covered in a blanket:


Then I pulled off the blankets when I went to bed.
We told the kids that they weren’t allowed to get up until 6:30. So wouldn’t you know, at 6:25, Joel comes in asking if it was OK to get up. We were like, “5 more minutes…” so I got up and turned on the Christmas lights and got the cameras ready. As I walked past the boys’ room, I saw Joel sitting on the top bunk of the bunkbed, legs already on the ladder, ready to get out ASAP.
Either Amanda or Joel –or both--woke up Maddy (there’s some dispute on that point between Maddy and Joel)—but anyway, they came out and saw their stockings. Then after a few minutes, we woke up the big Christmas fan—Abe—so he could live out the Christmas fantasies he’d built up in his mind over the past few months of watching our home movies.
He immediately brightened up and started dumping out his stocking.
Some of the items the kids got in their stockings:
GIANT, novelty-size pens
Fake teeth with gangster gold/jewels embedded in the teeth
Hannah Montana trivia cards and jump rope (for Maddy)
Chapsticks and toothbrushes
Tiny washcloths that de-compress in water
Candy and a chocolate orange

Then, I took a shower (no one wants to be around a greasy, unshowered Peterson) while Amanda put the cinnamon rolls in the oven. Remember, Amanda and I met at Cinnabon, and we got the “clone of a cinnabon” recipe off the internet (tweaked by us to be even more Cinnabon-esque). So ours are pretty much the best rolls ever.
Then we opened presents. Most of Madison’s presents revolved around the 2 “H’s”: Harry Potter and Hannah Montana. Because her room is Harry Potter-themed, we got her a Harry Potter broom, some of the books, a wand, a time-turner, a golden snitch, and Gryffindor socks. Plus Amanda made this awesome quilt:


She also got some Hannah Montana stuff that I’m trying to block out of my mind, but I think there was a CD and a Barbie thing, among other drivel.
Joel’s room is space-themed, so we got him a solar system that hangs from the ceiling, and a light-up constellation nightlight that shines stars on the wall and ceiling. Here’s his awesome quilt, made by Amanda of course:


In addition, he got a Zelda game for the DS, the Boom Blox game for the Wii (which is also a present for me, really, cause I freaking LOVE that game!) some action figures, and some other stuff we don’t remember…
Abe’s presents fell into two main categories: Buzz Lightyear and Pirates of the Caribbean. He got some Buzz vehicles and figures and some Pirates weapons (including a very large, powerful cannon that shoots things across the room…not sure what Amanda was thinking…Also, at Disneyland, he fell in love with a small treasure chest full of chocolate coins, which we bought him when he wasn’t looking. And we got him a pirate coin on a necklace, ala the first pirate movie.
Amanda started a clock collection for our kitchen wall, so I got her a “melting clock.”


I also got her an end table, a waffle iron, and a really tiny cheese grater (ok, it’s probably for spices).
I got a Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD collection, the Sweeney Todd Blu-ray, and a razor (those last two aren’t connected…I think…)
My last time shaving with my old razor went thusly:


On Christmas Night we had the party at the McTeers, during which I realized that the White Elephant and Dirty Santa games were a waste of time and money and I never want to do them again.
Hope you all had a great Christmas! If not, the Santa Emperor Palpatine will MAKE you have a great Christmas next year!!!


Now just for LeeAnn who loves this story, here’s the story of “The Little Match Girl,” animated by Disney Studios. It’s about 6 ½ minutes but is well worth watching (including the fairly un-Disney ending), and it’s set on Christmas Eve—plus I’m a sucker for wintry, Russian stories:

Spring Ahead, Fall Back

OK, ok, I’m updating my blog, alright?
OK, first of all, news of the family since last post:

[CLICK on any pictures to embiggen!]

Maddy and Joel started school—Maddy in 4th Grade, Joel in 1st. Here are their school pictures:



Cute, huh? I mean, really, compare them to some of the school pictures of their aunts and uncles:

OK, or compare them to me at their age:


Abe and Amanda had their birthdays on October 10th. Abe got a lot of Pirate-themed presents, as well as an Indiana Jones whip that makes sounds and plays Indiana Jones music when you press a button on the handle. Here’s Amanda’s Ding Dong cake:


And then there was Halloween. Now me, I am not a big fan of Halloween. I like the imagery of Jack O’Lanterns, ghosts, etc. But the whole dressing up and trick-or-treating thing…I’m not a fan. But Amanda and the kids love it, so what can you do, really? Sit around eating candy, that’s what!
Maddy was a 50’s girl:


Joel was an eyeball (sorry about the blurred eye picture):


And Abe was Captain Jack Sparrow:


Joel’s costume was totally his idea. He’s hilarious. I’m looking forward to see what he comes up with next year. It was tough for Amanda to figure out how to make the costume. She ended up using a pattern for some other costume—a bumblebee or something…
Abe was going to be Buzz Lightyear, thanks to the costume we got on clearance last year, but a few weeks before Halloween, he got out of his Toy Story phase and into his Pirates phase (meaning he started watching Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2 every day instead of Toy Story 1 and 2 every day). Not long before Halloween, we worried that he was going into his Indiana Jones or Iron Man phases, thanks to us getting Those on Blu-Ray. (Yes, we got a Blu-Ray player—and I LOVE it.)
Maddy WAS going to be Tinkerbell, but changed her mind at the last minute, leaving her Tinkerbell phase as she heads into the…ugh…pop star/Hannah Montana phase…Of course she’s still a Harry Potter fan, too. Which leads to the next news—Amanda painted the kids’ rooms. Maddy’s is Harry Potter themed with Gryffindor colors: Red and Gold:


Joel’s is blue, and we’ll soon be adding stars and planets for a space theme:


Amanda was an awesome painting maniac, and come Christmas, you’ll be able to see the awesome quilts she’s making for each of them that match their room themes.

Hmmm, what’s next?
Amanda’s working a lot at the Disney Store now that the Christmas season is kicking into high gear. On the plus side, she’s got 4 one-day park passes, and should be getting 4 or 5 more in the next month or so. Now, if we could just figure out when to take a trip to Disneyland. We’ve had on-again, off-again plans for a trip to Disney World or Disneyland. Currently, we’re thinking Disney World is going to have to wait until we’re in a better financial situation and when the kids are a little older (and if we wait til 2010, we can visit Universal Studios Florida and see the new Harry Potter land there, in addition to a big ol’ Disney World trip). Our smaller dream is for a Christmastime Disneyland trip, but this year is out, with me working so intensely on the Watchmen Motion Comic.

Speaking of that, Chapter 4 of the Motion Comic is now on iTunes. I worked on about ¼ of the episode. I also did some revisions to Chapter 5 which comes out in a week or so. The animation has been a lot of fun, and it’s been nice to see people enjoying the videos.
I also just quit my job at 8fish, for a number of reasons, most importantly that I’m wanting to focus more on animation-focused work. While 8fish was an o.k. job (much better than a lot, even), and definitely provided for my family, I felt like I was moving further and further from the kind of work I want to do. This was a big and somewhat scary decision to make (especially in today’s economy), but Amanda and I both feel like it’s the right thing to do right now.
Well, that about catches us up. Joel’s birthday was this week—we got him a star wars Lightsaber Duels video game, which he’s been enjoying, and we’re having a birthday party with nieces and nephews and other relatives on Friday.
We’re also gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Abe’s currently in a Home Videos phase, which means he enjoys watching the Christmas sections of our home videos OVER and OVER and OVER—he LOVES watching people dump out stockings and open presents. Then he keeps wanting to wrap up his toys and open them; or, he likes to dump a pile of toys in the middle of the room and cover them with a tote and blankets for a BIG present...he’s cute, but wears me out.
We’ll end with a song. Most of you should know the song “The Girl from Ipanema”
Well, this is a parody of that song called “The Boy From…” (the ellipses are short for Tacarembo La Tumbe Del Fuego Santa Malipas Zacatecas La Junta Del Sol Y Cruz)
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, music by Mary Rodgers.
It’s probably also the only song that mentions the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

8 tag tagged

Jana tagged me with this 8 things tag and so I'm doing it cause why the heck not:

Eight Television Shows I Watch
The Office
The Soup
Mythbusters
Mad About You (on DVD)
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (on DVD)
The Office (on DVD)
My So-Called Life (on DVD)
Amanda's lame HGTV Home shows

Eight Favorite Restaurants
Brick Oven
Chinese Buffet
Taco Bell
Los Hermanos
Flaming Wok
Macaroni Grill
Wendy's
Arby's

8 Singers/Bands I listen to
London Symphony Orchestra
Prague Philarmonic
Boston Pops
People that sing in Sondheim Musicals
People that sing in Disney Musicals
The musicians that play music for Disney Rides
Bands that play John Williams music
Michael Jackson

Eight Books I have read
Harry Potter
Huck Finn
The Unofficial Guide to Disney World
The Mormon Bathroom Reader
The Lovely Bones
The Disney that Never Was
Jurassic Park
Because of Winn-Dixie

Eight Things That Happened Yesterday
I got annoyed at work.
I ate Wendy's
I played Lego: Batman
We decided not to go to Disneyland at Christmas
Amanda got annoyed at work.
I played text twirl on Facebook.
I ate really crappy sandwich cookies.
I ate stale donuts.

Eight Things I'm Looking Forward To
Being done with Watchmen (though I love working on it, it'll be nice to have free time again).
Christmas
General Conference
Getting a new job
Amanda and Abe's Birthday
The weekend cause it'll be cold and stormy
Going to Disney World...sometime...
Buying a new treadmill HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Eight Things on my Wish List
Better job
Bigger house
go to Disney World
lose 20 pounds
get out of debt
my wife to not throw up when she's pregnant (no, she's not pregnant)
wish it would snow
wish I had more vacation days


Eight People I'm Tagging
Amanda
Judy
Leeann
libby
reed
anyone else who reads this blog and wants to either relpy on their blog or in the comments of this blog

Our NEW CONDO!!!

[Click on any of the pictures to see a larger image]
Alright, last Saturday, August 16th, we moved out of our crappy 3-bedroom apt. we’ve lived in for the past 2 years


and moved into our awesome brand-new condo (OK, so some people were renting it before we moved in, but it’s LIKE NEW—read previous post for more details…)
The move went really well and we got it done really fast. We started the move at about 2 and had the truck back to the u-haul place by 6:45 or so. Special thanks to everyone who helped us move and got us food to eat!
So now it’s time for a tour of the condo. Here’s a view of the neighborhood outside the condo:

Here’s our condo:

And a closer look at the patio, where Amanda wants to barbeque in the summertime:

We’ve got a little storage area in there, but it’s where the water shutoff are for the building, so not much room to store stuff.
Here’s our place, #101…

Welcome. Come on in. Bonjour. Howdy (that one’s cause we live in Hickville—err…Pleasant Grove…)
To your right is the front room.

It’s a little messy cause Amanda was babysitting today. We’ve got 9-foot ceilings throughout the house, which is AWESOME and really opens up the space. We’ve got a ceiling fan in here, and when we get our new DVD shelves, I’ll show you a picture of that wall with our TV and some pictures and such. For now, you can see Abe pretend to play the Wii:

To the left as you enter the house is the kitchen:


You like Abe's pose for the camera?
And down the hall on the left is the kids’ bathroom, decorated with a frog theme:

Across from their bathroom is Abe and Joel’s bedroom—messy of course:

Here’s a view from inside the room looking out—bonus points if you can guess what Joel’s watching:

Next, Maddy’s even messier bedroom (despite not having to share with another person):

Judy gave us her old ice chest, which Maddy is full of board games in Maddy’s closet (Abe likes to pull the games out):

Further down the hall is the Master bedroom and bathroom. There’s a door closing it off from the rest of the house. The bathroom is to the left once you step into the room. It’s got 2 sinks. Here’s Amanda’s sink on the left:

And mine on the right:

The closet is also in the bathroom, which would’ve been awesome if our dresser was small enough to fit in there along with all our other boxes, hanging clothes, and file cabinet:

Here’s our bedroom, also with a ceiling fan:

Though you can’t really tell from the pictures, this room (and the whole condo) is really spacious. In our old apt., we barely fit everything into our bedroom, with maybe a foot-wide walking path to various areas of the room. Now we’ve got plenty of walking space. We don’t, however, have a spot for our linens just yet, so for now, they’re on top of Amanda’s cedar chest:

Here’s our bed, with a bedspread straight from Walt Disney World’s All-Star Music Hotel (where we went on our honeymoon—no we didn’t steal it—we bought it off ebay!)

Looking out from the bedroom, you can see down the hallway to the front door:

See it? Use it!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA
We really love our new condo and in the week we’ve been here, we’ve already grown really attached to it—and I’m not talking about the 30-year mortgage shackled to our souls.
And heck, you gotta love that it only takes me about 25 minutes to get to work instead of 35-40!

I'll put up some more pics when we have the walls decorated. For now, here’s a video clip featuring the house I WANTED to get…

Father's Day and a blog game

Man, so busy lately. That's a good thing, cause it means a better paycheck! But it means I'm really worn out at the end of the day and don't feel like blogging. But I got home early tonight and got to relax a while, so now I can catch up on my blogs.

Thanks to all those who contributed advice and snarky comments regarding our decision. We've decided for sure to have Amanda pursue Nursing rather than her Master's Degree. However, we're still not 100% where to live and whether to rent or buy. There are some townhomes in Pleasant Grove we've been looking at, though. No decisions yet, however.

Father's Day: I didn't have a giant breakfast like amanda did--I got to pick out a couple boxes of cereal just for me--I got Honey Graham Oh's (DELICIOUS!) and Raisin Nut Bran (which wasn't as good as I'd remembered). I spent the day relaxing. Watched a movie or two, though I don't remember what movies, and we enjoyed our combination Father's Day/Anniversary/need a new TV present of our new flat-screen TV. Now we have a remote control, and the TV doesn't change channels when we press the volume button on the TV!!

I've also put a new list on the right of this blog that lists the movies we've got through Netflix so far this year. Overall, we've made good choices--only a couple disappointments in the list.

I'll end with a game that my friend Jana has on her blog. Here's what you do, courtesy of her blog entry:

Here are the directions:
Okay, as a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Why not end with a clip from PIXAR's newest short film "Presto" which plays before WALL-E?

Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Future

Man, I hate these long, busy stretches where I’m so busy with work and personal projects that I don’t have time to sit and write about life. Now you know why my journal-writing has gotten more sporadic as the years go by. Too busy doing stuff to write about the stuff I’m doing.
I’ll try to group this blog entry into topics:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Yes, I’ve seen it 3 times: The first was on opening night. Before the movie I took my “pre-movie bathroom break” and there was this creepy guy at the urinal next to me. OK, so it was my dear brother Kevin, who had just finished watching the movie. But it was still weird.
The second time was a couple days later with Amanda and the kids. Having seen it once, I was able to tell the kids when to close their eyes for the scary parts. Joel and Abe totally loved the movie. Abe’s been going around the house wearing my old fedora (which I bought in 1989 when Indy #3 came out) and using a measuring tape for a whip. Then he’s been carrying around a Knight helmet, pretending it’s the crystal skull from the film:



The 3rd time was a week later, and was required as part of the company retreat at my job. I was fine with it—heck, I got paid to see the movie, why WOULDN’T I go see it again?
My review: It’s my least favorite of the Indy movies (#3 is my favorite) but it’s still a fun movie to watch. It was brainless and cartoony, and it never seemed like there was any real danger in the movie. But it was a gold, old-fashioned “no-brainer” like my dad used to love watching. Like the 3 newer Star Wars films, this movie didn’t live up to the originals, but I can still re-watch the movie to enjoy the good parts.
We also bought the new Lego Indiana Jones game for the Wii. We were big fans of the Lego Star Wars games, and this is a fun one to play, too. Hence another reason I’m late updating my blog. I’ve been playing Lego Indy the past couple days instead.
The Disney Video Podcast
The main reason I’ve been too busy to write blogs is because I’ve been trying to finish up a video segment for a Disney Fan Podcast. If you have been living in a hole for the past couple years, I can tell you that a podcast is an audio and/or video program that can be listened to/watched on the computer or on an ipod. If you don’t know what an ipod is, it’s like a jukebox that fits in your pocket and can hold like 100 LP records. If you know what an ipod is, but DON’T know what an LP record is, you are so, so young…
I download a number of audio podcast episodes every week onto my ipod, then listen to them while at work. I listen to Eric D. Snider’s movie reviews every Friday. I download the Film Score Monthly podcast, where people discuss movie soundtracks in WAY too much detail. Recently, I’ve started listening to the Animation Podcast, which has great interviews with some awesome animators. And I listen to several Disneyland/Disney World podcasts. One is the Official Disneyland podcast. The others are made by the fans, where they discuss various aspects of Disney and the Theme Parks. One of them, Window to the Magic, features a lot of binaural audio. Binaural audio is basically 3-D audio. The person recording the audio wears a microphone by each ear that captures audio just as you’d hear it in the parks. They also have segments on the history of Disneyland attractions, again featuring a lot of vintage audio from Disney rides.
Anyway, to make a long story even longer, Patrick Hurd, who does segments for Window to the Magic, is starting a special video podcast for WTTM. Patrick was one of the finalists for the CMO contest (another non-winner, like me, though he made it to the top 10) and he asked me if I’d like to do a short segment in each of the video podcast episodes. I’ll let you know when the podcast premieres, so you can download it and enjoy!
The Quest for the Future
Finally, as many of you know, we’ve been struggling with our plans for the future. We’ve been struggling with whether or not to
A) move to Salt Lake City and have Amanda get her Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy. She’s wanted to be an OT for a long time, and it would guarantee that no matter what happens to my job situation, she would be able to make a good living for us anywhere in the country. The downside is that Abe would have to go to daycare, which would be expensive and/or scary. The older kids would have to take the bus, let themselves in the house, and lock the door until Manda or I get home (or, again, find a babysitter who could be expensive/scary). I would be a little closer to work, though I’d have to take a lot of back streets and freeway interchanges, as well as drive on the most horrid stretch of I-15 in Utah. But it would make it easier in the event I find a new job in the Salt Lake Area. We would live in Student Housing, which is small, but affordable.
B) Stay in Orem, and have Amanda get a nursing degree at UVU (formerly UVSC). We would try to buy a house, since we’re really tired of throwing away rent $ when we could be putting it toward something. My commute wouldn’t be any further than before, but it’s still a 35-45 commute (or longer in bad traffic). But the kids could potentially stay at their current elementary school , we’d have family members available for babysitting them, and Amanda’s schooling schedule for nursing would be less demanding on our time and resources. In fact, most of her classes would either be at night, on the weekend, or during the older kids’ school, so except for someone occasionally watching Abe, we’d hardly ever need a babysitter. However, while nursing is something she’s wanted to do and would be happy doing and be good at, it would be less personally rewarding and she wouldn’t earn nearly as much money doing it. Amanda, especially, doesn’t want the kids to have to go to daycare or be latch-key kids. Even though she and I both grew up in that situation, it concerns us. The nursing program would take about the same amount of time as the OT degree, but would be a lot cheaper, so less money added to our student loans. Additionally, staying here would allow Amanda to stay at the Disney Store, where she’d be able to get health insurance for all of us at a price much cheaper than we could get on our own or through the U of U (she’s required to have insurance at either school).
Those are the 2 basic options. We’ve also thought of trying to combine the 2 ideas, staying down here but having her go to school. But that would require me to either tailor my work schedule to her school schedule or have us buy a 2nd car, meaning double the gas expenses. And we would have even less time with the kids and they’d again have to be latch-key kids or be babysat by family a lot. Or we could try to find a home or apartment in Sandy, close to where I work, so I’d have almost no commute and Amanda’s would be short. But that puts us in a similar situation to us living at the U of U where Amanda wouldn’t have to commute, but I would. So we may as well live up there where she’d be more available to the kids than I would.
No matter what, we are NOT staying at our current apartment any longer. The new manager is horrible and the rent is going up. There’s no washer/dryer, they like to close the swimming pool whenever they want to, and our new upstairs neighbors have a very squeaky bed.
I’d like to know everyone’s opinions on the matter. Any experience, insights, observations, etc. would be appreciated. Obviously, we’re giving the matter a lot of thought and are praying about it constantly. It’s a huge step, and adding to the wrinkle is the fact that I’m looking to change jobs in the near future, but that will take a great opportunity landing in my lap or some 3-D animation training on my own time to get a better job.
Speaking of 3-D animation, we’ll end with a clip from Wall-E. Man, I’d love to be an animator at PIXAR...

Indiana Jones has arrived!!

In case you hadn't heard since you live in a cave or are dead, Indiana Jones #4 came out today. We've got our tickets for Saturday morning, (believe me, I'm dying to see it and would've rather gone today, but such is life!) but I got the Soundtrack today (which is especially cool because it's not officially released til the 27th, but Amazon shipped it early--wahoo!)

In celebration of the release of the movie, I've posted the Indiana Jones-inspired video Maddy and Joel made back in 2004. Enjoy "Maddy and the Lost Treasure":

Mother's Day, Monkey Brains, and a New Car!

Alright, got a bit of stuff to talk about. I would’ve updated my blog earlier, but I’ve had a wild week. We were given less than a week to do a Comcast commercial for work—including character design and me trying to animate the dang thing frame by frame (TIP: don’t choose frame-by-frame animation for a commercial that’s due in a week). I brought the files home every night and on the weekend to try to get ahead on it. Then Tuesday morning, my boss looked at the 30+ hours of work I’d done and said, “This isn’t going to work. We need to do something else.” So we scrapped all the work I’d done and he illustrated some images that I animated in a Cut-out style (like the Goldilocks commercial, but simpler artwork). I LOVE waiting my time and the company’s time and money! But at least it got done on time and on budget.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff. Friday night, we traded in our gas-guzzling van for a 2007 Chevy Malibu. Here’s a picture:



It’s a little cozier, but a better choice considering my daily commute to and from Sandy.
Sunday was Mother’s Day. Since I’d already gotten Amanda some gifts for May 3rd, I didn’t get her much for Mother’s Day. I got her the book of “Pride and Prejudice” and I made her a big fancy breakfast. OK, so she helped make it, too, after realizing that it was a LOT of work to make Stuffed French Toast, hash browns, eggs, and bacon all at the same time.



I let her relax as much as I could, and she fell asleep watching the A&E Pride and Prejudice (can you blame her?! But that Colin Firth sure is dreamy…) While she was in the shower Sunday morning, the kids and I cleaned the front room for her, and they yelled at her, telling her she’s not allowed in the front room til we were done.

Last night we sat and watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, #2 in the Indy Trilogy. We had eyeballs and eels for dinner (spaghetti and meatballs—but the meatballs had olive slices on top of them to look like irises). And of course chilled monkey brains, like in the movie (OK, so ours was sliced up strawberry Jell-o, but still…)

For dessert we had Willie Scott’s Ice Scream (with WHIP-Ped topping).:


And Shankara Stone Brownies (the magic rocks with three white stripes on them that Indiana was trying to get from the bad guys):



Well, that’s about all I can think of right now. Have fun and be sure to visit the 10 Years of Magic blog, too!