Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza

Last Saturday, my good friend, Kristina, hosted a pumpkin carving party. (Thanks, Kristina!) We had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures. Here are the few I took once I remembered.

Homemade Oreos

My good friend, Jenny, gave me her recipe for Homemade Oreos after my kids begged me to get it from her. They have become a favorite at our house. I made some for the bake sale at AJ's elementary school a couple weeks ago.

If you can't tell from this picture, I let AJ lick the bowl. I know it's probably a bad thing (salmonella and all), but he enjoyed it!






Here's the finished product!



And here's the recipe:

Homemade Oreos

2 chocolate cake mixes

4 eggs

2 sticks butter, softened

Mix ingredients together with beaters. Roll in balls. Cook at 350 for 10 minutes. Drop pan to flatten cookies; cool.

Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened

Mix ingredients together with beaters. Frost one cookie, and top with another cookie.

Los Angeles Temple Visitor Center

Last week, we took a quick trip to the newly remodeled Los Angeles Temple Visitor Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). There is a statue of the Christus in front of a beautiful painted mural of the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean.



There is an interactive children's area within the Visitor Center. The boys had such a good time that I forgot to take pictures.


Here are a couple pictures of one of the trees on the Temple grounds. AJ likes me to take his picture in front of it every time we visit with a camera.



Finally, there are some lovely statues just outside the Visitor Center. AJ wanted to look at each one.

New Furniture

We finally found something for our family room that both John and I like! We needed a love seat or two small chairs to complete the seating area for our family room, and we could not find anything we loved enough to buy.

While at Cost Plus World Market a couple of weeks ago, we saw one of these armless chairs. We thought it would match, so John took a picture with his iPhone. At home, he "photoshopped" it into a picture of the family room, and we decided we liked it enough to buy it.

This is a picture of the real thing. What do you think? Now all we need are curtains and a table of some kind. Eventually we will get our house furnished!

He Can Hardly Contain His Excitement...

Can't you tell? Poor David! His crazy mother made him stop in front of the DMV after getting his Learner's Permit.


Well, on the up side, David can now "officially" learn to drive. As soon as he has his first lesson with the driving instructor, he can drive with me and John. Scary! I can feel more gray hair ready to sprout as soon as he gets behind the wheel. Not because he's not ready, just because it stressed me out when anyone other than me drives any car!

The Long Awaited Car: Revealed At Last!

AJ had such a good time making is Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car with his dad. Here are some pictures of the final car and the Pinewood Derby. AJ didn't come in first place, but he didn't come in last, and he had a wonderful time!