Master Chef Jr. Challenge

Master Chef Jr. has been a long time favorite cooking show for our family to watch together. We binge watched the first few seasons a few years ago over the holidays and are still working through the rest. Sadly, we have the cookbook and some fun spoilers have looked ahead to find out who the winners are. I have seen them all before but thanks to my poor memory, it's all a surprise to me! We do love to be in the kitchen together and have taught them as early as we can to cook eggs, grilled cheeses and quesadillas. They do lots of chopping of fruits and veggies and pay close attention to all the elaborate recipes Robby cooks. Even Arlo can hold his own in the kitchen at the Valentine Nest!  

Another night of our 12 Days of Holiday Fun we planned a Grilled Cheese Challenge. All the contestants donned their new aprons I made them for Christmas, we met in the kitchen for the run down from the head chef and judges (us), they viewed the ingredients then sat down to write down a plan. 

Here is a closer look at the options.....

These two were paired together and were fairly happy with the arrangement. We set the timer for 15 minutes and they were off! 

Robby and I sat at the table as each dish was delivered. We imitated Gordon Ramsay and the other judges with all their critiques on textures, plating, color, flavors that compliment each other etc. They often hold up a piece of food on their fork and stare at it for a moment before taking a bite....we did that too. 

The combinations were delicious, some played it safe while others were full of adventure. 

All said and done, dinner was delicious! It's funny, there are events that don't include the disasters or explosions of frustration between siblings but this night, it was pretty great. 

The Fool's Café

Just before Christmas we decided that we needed to up our game in the "be a fun parent" realm so we came up with the 12 Days of Holiday Fun that extended into the new year and wrapped up before school & work started again. The lengthy commitment (that we questioned if we were really serious about wanting to be that much fun) included simple things like looking at Christmas lights, hot chocolate and Holiday Mad Libs on the back porch, or surprising the kids with special ornaments to hang. 

A few others are worth documenting like our night at The Fool's Café and a Master Chef Jr. Grilled Cheese Challenge which must have its own post because I experience great difficulty when trying to limit the amount of pictures to include ; ) 

The Fool's Café was recommended to me by a friend who had done it with their own family. It is a printable from a blog I love called The Dating Divas. In order to enjoy on various occasions, I laminated all the pieces & we got to work planning our evening! We told the kids that afternoon that they would need to come to dinner in a costume but they were not aware that we would be in costume too. They were quite surprised! 

In short, it is a restaurant style dinner experience where nothing happens as expected. When our "guests" arrived, they were seated at the table and then rolled a dice to see what their plate and eating utensil would be. We had them numbered on the counter to be delivered to each guest. Some combinations were a muffin tin and tablespoon size measuring spoon or baking sheet with tongs. They each received a menu with the words "wacky, silly, loco, looney" etc with numbers. Next they had to fill in the spaces to place their orders for each course unaware of what each number represented since they couldn't see our cheat sheet. This resulted in some eating marshmallows and cucumbers for an appetizer with noodles and tater tots for dessert. Certainly has the potential to be stressful for picky eaters but our bunch decided to giggle instead!

Robby and I sported the socks my brother Scott bought us for Christmas. Pencils for the teacher and some Office Convict Mike socks that said "and I never got caught neither!" I think Rob should start styling his hair like that on a regular basis.

We had a box of challenge cards that we pulled out when people broke random rules that we made up in the moment. Rob was in charge of that and had me laughing. Charlotte got stuck with eating without her hands while Owen enjoyed eating with an ice cream scoop from a skillet. 

Robby ate from an espresso cup with chopsticks and drank from a teapot....that was my favorite!

Drinking from a measuring cup is always fun too! I had the worst experience imaginable for those who don't like their food to touch and enjoyed a seven layer dip of all the options minus the napkin. It reminded me of the movie Elf when he pours syrup in the bag of noodles. 

Now these two were quite handsome....who doesn't love a man in suspenders? 

Anson had a dog tail and Arlo reluctantly wore the owl costume I made from Halloween 2013. 

We should have given the girls some guidelines because they showed up with eyeliner, their undies over their jammie pants and socks stuffed in other places which is much like I remember doing as kids with my silly friends! Eloise carried deodorant to the table and liberally applied once she was seated. Ha! 

Over all, it was a HILARIOUS evening and we felt like we had nailed it as fun parents! In the picture below, I just noticed that the mistletoe hanging behind Rob's head makes it look like he has an old TV antenna attached, haha! 

 

Celebrating Arlo- 5th Birthday

 Darling Arlo, the baby of the family, turned five in October. Birthdays are extremely emotional for me as I replay a pregnancy, birth and newborn days, and this year was no different! He requested a racecar theme and we had SO much fun setting it up on birthday eve! He even had his own "racecar" on the fireplace along with a sleeping bag and camping chair for our upcoming camping trip. He was a happy boy!

My favorite birthday decorating happens when we get to use all sorts of things we already have and we certainly did just that! Anson was SUPER stressing me out sending racecars around the track after we set the table! 

Although it is still rather warm in early October, pumpkin bread is frequently baked. Arlo decided some pumpkin muffins would accompany the sausage balls well. He has good ideas! 

We partied out front with a visit from my parents, GGran and Aunt Debbie. A Paw Patrol fire truck and a fireman uniform were the favorite off all the gifts! 

The power sprayer strapped on his back offered requested watering of plants and flowers coupled with frequent unwanted showers for his siblings and parents. He was so cute though thinking his job was as important as a real firefighter, it was hard to be frustrated with the birthday boy.

Charlotte and Arlo baked cookies together which is favorite activity of these two : ) 

Arlo is funny, expressive, oh so helpful and our biggest snuggler.  I hope that last one never changes! Some of my favorite pictures are unplanned, we are not coordinated and they take a quarter of a second to snap. This is one of them in a place where we spend lots of time, our very own yard. 

It's a shame that Arlo has on matching socks. That almost never happens! 

That time Eloise turned 9

Eloise just celebrated turning double digits this past week BUT before that, she turned NINE right smack in the middle of COVID-19, so it was an at home birthday bash at the Valentine Nest ending with her request of sliders cooked by her favorite chef...clue...not me ; ) The guy pictured below delights in spoiling his girlie-pie with delicious meals. Along with her sister, she has an adult palate and if given their own allowance to spend at Central Market would come home with Lamb Shanks and Big Eye Tuna.  

Leading up to the big day, we visited Grammy and Grandpa for cake and time in the sandbox. I HATE SAND unless I am at the beach and I am so glad that we have a fun pair that is happy to load 200 pounds of sand into the box on a regular basis and allow it to be tracked into their house. 

 

Birthday morning was the best. On Mother's Day, I had written a letter about motherhood that I read to the kids. Eloise followed suit and drafted the sweetest, most thoughtful letter for our family. I was in tears as she read it and thanked each of us for various things.  

It was donuts and sausage balls for breakfast per request of the birthday girl...always delicious!

There were gifts galore culminating with the teeny-tiniest message from Charlotte that was only legible through the lens of a magnifying glass. It led her through nine clues hidden all through the house ending at the mailbox where she got to open her gift. What a fun sissy!

SpaceX even celebrated her birthday by launching Flacon 9 into orbit with two astronauts aboard headed to the International Space Station! So kind of them!

It was the first launch from American soil since 2011 from Kennedy Space Center right next to our favorite beach. We even caught a glimpse of it from our yard in Orlando. This is how the little lady looked that week on the 4th of July.... she's grown a bit!

Elo requested the blow up pool in the backyard for lounging and splashing. While we were out back, her friend Alaina and her sisters chalked the front sidewalk with a birthday message & put a balloon and gift on the mailbox! Such a special surprise during a time when we were not able to play with friends!

Even GGran stopped by for a visit! Aunt Debbie and Uncle Joe did too but inadvertently hid from the camera : ) They came bearing brownies with nine candles, of course.

So much of the pandemic season was filled with rest and family time. We were grateful for that and grateful for our girl and all the joy she brings to our home. Her creativity, generosity and genuine concern for others is such a gift. 

I got in a little snuggle that evening.....

while reminiscing of the day she was born....

We love our Eloise Hope. 

Homestyle Halloween

Halloween of 2020, the weirdest year EVER, happened to be just wonderful!  We were six weeks into having our most favorite neighbors down the street. It might have been the biggest surprise of our lives minus the twin pregnancy when Gaga & Paw Paw bought a house across the street & four doors down in September! There are too many things about it to count that bring a smile to each of our faces every single day.  Halloween was the perfect opportunity to consider our "jack-pot" situation & plan a big bash! Everyone received an invitation and then lined up one by one to call Gaga & RSVP. It was funny when one person would hang up then the next would call immediately.  In preparation, she decked out the backyard with spider webs & the back windows were decorated by the kids with bats & spiders. So festive for our SPOOK-TACULAR party!

After not spending much time with my brothers this year, they came into town & it was so fun!  My mom has saved many of our childhood costumes including a number of ones that she made. I was Jessie from Toy Story my senior year in high school so I figured it might be fun to dress up! The waist did not quite fit the way it used to before four pregnancies but a clip fixed it up until I moved & it popped off. Robby threw on the old Captain Hook wig Eloise wore in 2014.  

The line up this year included a fireman for the second year in a row, but he had an addition the he received for his birthday a couple weeks prior. It was a backpack sprayer. For weeks, he kept our flower beds, Paw Paw & Gaga's flower beds & his siblings well watered! 

I mentioned old costumes earlier. Charlotte happened upon a dress I wore in 8th grade & it fit her perfectly. I reminded her that I was unusually small & she is normal sized. We paired it with Gaga's heels, cat ears, a painted nose & some glittery eye shadow. She looked like the prettiest cat I had ever seen. 

Eloise, oh Eloise. She was set on the idea of being a pirate. Here she is decked out in the costume she designed and Gaga made. All I contributed was the thing on her head. Fine by me! Leave it to the professionals! She insisted on the tiniest of gold triangles that they worked together to attach. Gaga also spent more time than she should have making felt boots to go over her shoes. She was adorable though & out of everyone, has worn her costume the most since Halloween. She has a great imagination! 

She told Uncle Scott her plan & he looked up the names of some female pirates. He called her one afternoon and told her that she could call herself Sadie the Goat. She is said to be an American legend. 

Some facts about Sadie the Goat:

• she was a vicious street mugger in New York
• her "move" was to get a running start & headbutt her victim in the belly 
• she eventually had her ear bit off in a bar fight
• it was given back to her & she wore it in a locket around her neck

Hmm....thanks Uncle Scott! She was not aware of the details but took on the attack method & chased her brothers down to headbutt them. She also loudly declared when told to do the dishes, "Sadie the Goat doesn't do the dishes!"

The twins, hahaha.  There has been this pair of glasses at my parents house for years. Arlo used to be so terrified of them that they were hidden up in the closet & he would ask before we even traveled to Kingwood if Gaga put them away. He's not scared anymore & he thought his big bros were pretty funny. They opted to dress identically & we were thinking about them adding white hair spray then decided against it because they were going to take a dip in the hot tub that night. 

Gaga really did herself up nice too! Paw Paw hasn't had that much hair in years....or ever I guess!

It has been pretty wonderful to have my own mother just a few houses down. We don't dress like this everyday but wouldn't that be fun? She wore her costume in a tap dancing performance, minus the wig of course, ha!

Notice the skeleton hands Kyle and I replaced ours with. I got them at the dollar store, they were great for a game of don't drop the egg & then Arlo scratched the guinea pigs with them for weeks after. They would flatten out like pancakes and relax. Who wouldn't like that? 

We had yummy snacks....

and played an abundance of games including a scavenger hunt where they collected bones, assembled them & cracked the riddle to enter the door to the closet where they found a bucket full of candy. This fall for school we have focused on human anatomy & Arlo memorized the parts of the axial skeleton. He could point & name them on our model: skull, vertebrae, ribs & sternum. Too cute with his little voice! 

We had a team competition to build bridges with "bones" Q-tips, popsicle sticks, and pipe cleaners that had to hold candy pumpkins. Scott showed off some skills with weaving pipe cleaners while Kyle the engineer couldn't help but build something I could have stood on ; ) Robby & Owen worked together & were able to support lots of pumpkins.  Anson didn't like being my teammate so we didn't take a picture of our bridge that fell apart. I have other talents....not creative construction. 

I didn't get any pictures of the swimming that followed for the little party animals. The hot tub was hot & the pool was sooooo cold! Once the fall rolled around & the pool got chilly, the lifeguard (Paw Paw), his wife, and all the kids started calling the dip in the pool a "Polar Bear Swim." There is a white float called "the iceberg" & every now & then someone yells "POLAR BEAR SWIM!" and everyone jumps in. I would hate that & be considered the party pooper but that's okay ; ) 

Bottom line, this Halloween was one of my very favorite! I think we might do it again next year!