November Fun

Just a few pictures from November. Enjoy!

New Recipe: Stuffed Acorn Squash

I've tried the last little while to be better at enjoying produce in its season, especially when you can get them at a great price. The last time I went shopping, Acorn squash was on sale. So I looked up a recipe in my cookbook and stuffed acorn squash sounded like a good one. I modified it quite a bit though because 1. we didn't need to make near as much as the recipe called for 2. because neither Steve or I are fans of stuffing and 3) because I don't really enjoy sausage or red meat...
Becca's modified Acorn Squash recipe:

1 acorn squash
1/3 lb. lean ground turkey
1/2 small onion, minced
Pinch paprika
Crumbs from 1 peice of whole wheat bread
1/3 cup beef broth
pinch salt
pinch Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 tsp. grated parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients except Acorn squash.

Cut squash in half; scrape strings and seeds from inside (save seeds for roasting YUM!). Discard stringy pulp.

Parboil the squash, cut side down in a small amount of boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove from water and pat dry. Brush inside and tops of cut side with butter.

Divide meat mixture evenly.

Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 1 hour, or until the squash is tender.

We really enjoyed it. I should have gotten a picture. I'll make sure I do that next time.

October and Halloween Fun

We had a few really beautiful days this October. So we decided to go for a walk on one of them and enjoy the pretty fall day by the river. Aiden took a few pictures of us. For four years old, he is pretty good. Having Daddy kiss Mommy on the cheek was his idea too!

Unfortunately the day we picked to go to the pumpkin patch was bitterly cold. It didn't phase Aiden much though. He picked out a green pumpkin this year to make it into a goblin. I found a neat pumpkin decorating kit last year after Halloween that works kind of like Mr. Potato Head pieces; you just stick them into the pumpkin. Aiden loved the fact that he could do the whole thing himself.

On Thursday we went to Boo at the Zoo since Steve was going to be working on Saturday when most of the trick or treating was going on. I think Aiden had fun, although when we asked him what he thought afterwards he told us it was dark and everyone looked weird. It was neat to see the nocturnal animals moving around, and all the decorations were fun too. On Saturday we went Trick or Treating. Steve got to come with us to the Trunk or Treat at the Church. Afterwards we walked down to the river where they were doing a Trick or Treat Street with some fun games and lots of candy. After that we headed over to Josh and Emily's house, and Aiden got to trick or treat at their church building too. Needless to say, we came home with a ton of candy. On Sunday we made halloween sugar cookies and decorated them.

Also in October I opened a store in Idaho Falls! It carries overstock from my daily deal website and other discount crafting and fashion items. We are only open on Friday and Saturdays and it's not a huge place, but it's big enough. It's been fun to get to know other crafters in the area and to see them come in every week. Aiden enjoys helping out there and likes to tell people about the bulk brads and buttons (my little salesman). Since I'm sure you all were wondering LOL it's located at 381 Shoup Ave. Suite 207 downtown Idaho Falls. Our main sales item is craft paper (12x12 paper) at 10 for $1, but we also sell Jewelry, beads, ribbon, stickers, vinyl, stamps and handmade items all at 60-90% off retail.

Aiden's 4th Birthday

We celebrated Aiden's birthday on the 25th this year. That Saturday, was free day at the zoo. We went to the zoo that morning and found out there was also a community day going on at the park outside the zoo. There were free bouncy houses (one of Aiden's favorite things). Josh and Emily and Sopie went with us that morning too. Aiden loves Josh, Emily and Sopie. So he got to play on the bouncy house, go to the zoo and have his birthday party that evening.

Aiden wanted a Toy Story themed birthday this year. So we invited a few of his friends to a local place called Blast Off! It has a rocket outside and jungle gyms, slides and ball pits. He had a ton of fun as you can tell from the pictures. We also gave him a few presents from Mom and Dad on his actual birthday.

Yellowstone Day Trip

For Labor Day, we decided to go to Yellowstone. We really had a lot of fun and Aiden is still telling people about the deer, bison and the "dragon" he saw at "Yellowcorn". The dragon was actually one of the geyser vents that just happened to open up under a cave so the steam was coming out of the cave and it made gurgling and growling noises.

Some of the pictures:

Aiden's First Day of Preschool

Aiden's first day of preschool was August 24th. He goes every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and is loving it. There are only 6 kids in his class, 4 are boys. He seems to have become pretty good friends with all of them. He is really liking his classes and usually on the car ride home tells me all about what he learned that day. He also tells me everyday that he hasn't learned to read yet, just learned more letter sounds. He really wants to learn to read and his teacher tells me that he has asked everyday if he is going to learn to read that day. It's a Montessori Preschool, so they cover more than just academics. There is a whole section of the room dedicated to life skills, and Aiden is pretty proud of himself for learning how to do up a zipper completely on his own. The school also has a miniature pony named Buttons that the kids get to feed, brush and ride; a pygmy goat named Sunny, and a rabbit (who's name Aiden hasn't yet told me) that the kids get to take care of too. Next week they are going to an apple orchard as their first field trip. Parents get to go, so I am looking forward to it too.

Daisy Dog

Daisy has been a member of our family for a long time. I really will miss her. I can remember going to see her when she was a brand new puppy. She was so pink and tiny. When we brought her home she would cry at night until we discovered Leo, the Lion. She could curl up and fit on his lap. I can remember her as a puppy trying to pounce fireflies, and running up to the neighbors big lab and barking at her like she was a huge tough dog (of course the lab was stuck behind a fence). Daisy always sat by me when I played the piano and sometimes it seemed like I had a teacher sitting there telling me I made a mistake. She would usually be sleeping or sitting with her head on her paws and when I played a wrong note she would lift her head up and look at me. Whenever it was someone's birthday or Christmas Daisy would grab pieces of the wrapping paper and run around with it.

Daisy was always protective of any of the little kids and would gaurd the top of the stairs. She also liked the baby toys especially soft rattles and rings and would steal them when they were left out on the floor.

We used to play outside with Daisy a lot. We sent her down the slide (she really didn't like it, but we thought it was hilarious). We also would put her on the glider and have her swing with us. There was also the Little Tikes orange and yellow car. It had a little storage space behind the seat and we used to put Daisy in it, have Stephen climb in the seat and then Laura and I would hang onto the roof and go down the hill in front of the house. I'm sure Daisy was not amused by the whole thing, but she put up with us.

If you were playing sardines you had to make sure Daisy was occupied or have her hide with you, because she would give you away, especially if you hid in Mom and Dad's closet.

She used to wait at the window for the bus to come. For a long time if you said the word bus, she would run to the window and look for it.

She would sleep in the crook of your legs and growl at you if you moved. Unless you were sick then she would come and sleep by your stomach or as close to your head as she could get and she never complained when you moved.

I love you Crazy Daisy!

Second video

For some reason it wouldn't let me put both videos on at once

Aiden's Sense of Humor

So yesterday, Aiden told me his first joke:
Aiden "Mom! Why did the crazy chicken cross the road?"
Me "I don't know, why Aiden?"
Aiden "To get to the other side silly Mom! Isn't that why you cross the road?"
Me "sure"
Aiden "Now you are supposed to laugh!"
Me "okay, haha!"

Aiden "Mom! Why did two crazy chickens cross the road?"

This continued all the way up to 16 chickens which is basically as far as Aiden can count. I asked Aiden where he learned the joke and he said
"Me don't know! Everyone knows that joke Mom."

Then I was uploading videos and came across this one. He was playing a game where you are supposed to catch dinosaur eggs without letting the big mean dinosaur get the egg. Well Aiden figured out that if you timed it just right, you could get the egg to hit the big mean dinosaur on the head and it would make a funny noise and flail around. This is what he is laughing at in the video.



Well, I have been slacking on getting photos up. Hopefully things won't get super busy again and I can be more consistent.

A couple Videos of Aiden

Usually when we tell Aiden I love you, he says I love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots....and so on. I still haven't caught him on tape doing it.



My funny kid counting. I took this video in March.

Easter! 2010 and Steve's Birthday

Better late than never right. Aiden loved Easter. He asked me everyday for a couple weeks if we could decorate more eggs. I'm sure the candy was another reason Easter made a big impression...yes, he is eating candy in almost every picture we got of him. I do still have videos to upload from Easter, so those will hopefully be up in the next couple of days.

We celebrated Steve's birthday very late with friends. We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and Steve got to wear the birthday hat and get free fried ice cream (Steve will probably kill me for posting a picture of him in that hat).

Aiden's Surgery

Aiden had his tonsils and adnoids out at the end of March. He did pretty well. He actually complained more about the IV than his throat. Jaime, Caleb and Alexis came to visit Aiden while he was staying in the hospital. they brought him cards which he keeps on his bookshelf in his room. He shows them to everybody. The surgery seems to have really helped. He is sleeping through the night more and is eating better.

California Trip Part Five: Griffith Park

Friday we drove to Griffith Park in LA, near the zoo, and did the activities there. Aiden got to take two pony rides. He said that the pony bounced him around. As we were leaving he asked if he could pet the pony.

Then we had a picnic lunch. After lunch we all rode on a little train ride. After the ride we went over to the Travel Time Train museum. Aiden enjoyed exploring the trains.

The last thing we did was drive out to where you could see the Hollywood sign. If you look close at the last pictures of Aiden in the car, you can see it in the background.

California Trip Part Four: The Beach

It was a little chilly to get in the water the day we went to the beach, but we had a lot of fun playing in the sand. Aiden thought running in the sand was a lot of fun. The last few pictures are of a "game" he got Dad and Uncle Drew to play with him. It basically consisted of throwing sand at the ocean before the tide could come back in and get your feet. Aiden spent a lot of time playing this game and it was funny to watch him run away from the waves. Before we left we had to stomp on the sand castle too.

California Trip Part Three: The Aquarium

On Wednesday we went to the Cabrillo Aquarium. It was a smaller aquarium, but it had a touch pond and starfish, which was about all Aiden needed to be happy. They also had a really cool children's exploration area with fun costumes, and puppets.

We took this video of Aiden playing with the puppets with the camera, so it's not the best quality, but still cute!

California Trip Part Two: Disneyland!

Disneyland was a blast! Aiden loved that Uncle Drew came with us.
Before we left for California I had Aiden get on the Disneyland website with me and pick out some things he really wanted to do. His top choices: Pirates, Haunted House, Buzz Lightyear, and a train.

We did all of them. He thought the Haunted House was "awesome" and kept telling me that I turned into a ghost. The train was also a lot of fun. He smiled and pointed at things through the whole ride. In the Buzz Lightyear ride you get lazers and you get to shoot Zurg. Aiden did the Buzz ride at least five times. The Pirates ride was neat too. He had fun pointing out pirates with swords (imagine that). Seeing Mickey Mouse was also on Aiden's list. His face just lit up when he saw Mickey Mouse. And he thought it was amazing that he got to shake his hand.

The Finding Nemo ride was another favorite. He really loved it, and kept talking about all the starfish he saw. We also rode the Winnie The Pooh ride and Aiden just kept saying over and over that he got to see "pooh, iglet, wabbit, yore and roo".

It was fun to watch Aiden get into the Jungle Cruise ride. He pointed out elephants and told us to watch out and made sure nobody got hurt.

The Peter Pan ride made a pretty big impression on him too. He couldn't believe we were flying and told me for a couple days afterwards that he got to fly up above stars.

Aiden loved his "First Visit" button that he got at the gates. He still wants to wear it.

California Trip Part One!

It was so nice to spend a week someplace where we didn't have to bundle up just to go outside. Aiden's first comment when we got to California was that there was no snow. There sure wasn't. It was even 85 degrees one of the days we were there!

Here are a few pictures from the first couple of days of the trip. Hooray for having a Zoo pass for the Idaho Falls Zoo that got us into the L.A. Zoo half price!

Pin the Rock on Goliath

For one of our family home evenings we told Aiden the story of David and Goliath and then we played pin the rock on Goliath. Aiden had so much fun doing it we played for about an hour and we just had to get video of it.

Present from Brent and Laura

About a week ago, Aiden got a late Christmas present in the mail from Brent and Laura. He was so excited that he got a package just for him.

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He really loves his "awesome car book" that has his name in it. He has just learned how to recognize his own name and when I am reading the book to him he has fun looking for his name and pointing it out on every page.

Thanks Brent and Laura!

Overstock Sale!

For those of you in the Idaho Falls area, I am doing a big overstock sale with items from my website: www.kindredcreations.com
Free Admission
When: Friday, Feb. 12th
10:00 am-8:00 pm
The London Café
Inside the Guesthouse Inn on Lindsay Blvd.

Everything at least 75% off from big Companies like:
Daisy D’s, American Crafts, S.E.I. BasicGrey, 7gypsies, Around the Block, Chatterbox, and 20 others.

All 12x12 paper including cardstock ten for $1.oo!
Deep Discount table with kits and other items up to 95% off! Hundreds of items for a quarter.

You won’t want to miss it.

Once There was a Snowman!

Thought everyone would enjoy pictures of Aiden playing in the snow.

Christmas 2009

Here are is a slideshow and a couple videos of Christmas at the Hayes'.