Mr. 3 and the fall festival

Fall fun

Out for a walk

After a somewhat epic grocery trip with Mr. 3 and other household chores (including setting off the smoke detector while trying to roast beets), we finally managed to get out to enjoy a gorgeous fall day.  We took a friend of Mr. 9's along and the conversations overheard were wonderful.
"Don't stray down the paths of confusion."
"Continue through the misty marshes of misery."
"I sense hidden magic there."
"Be careful it may still have some invisibility power left in it."

A few sticks and the world is a whole different place.

Moments around the house

A half birthday treasure hunt

Mr. 3's half birthday was yesterday and he was very excited to get to add a half to his age.  While he was at preschool, the older boys asked if they could take a break from school and put together a treasure hunt.  They spent almost an hour cutting out characters (it was Mario-themed), writing clues, hiding them.  The clues were a conversation between Bowser, Mario, and Toad and involved rescueing the Princess.  Mr. 9 even did a run through to make sure it would all go smoothly.  And Mr. 3 loved it.  He eagerly ran to find each clue and wanted to put them all in his bed when he finished.  It was great to watch them running from room to room together but I was too busy distracting Mr. 1 to get pictures during the actual event.





We finished up his celebration with delicious chocolate cake with his best friend J and J's family.  A perfect way to celebrate (and really yummy cake).

Mario time

What do you do when your oldest boys want to be Mario and Luigi for Halloween and it turns out the hats you ordered won't arrive until November 5th?  Google for how to make your own!  I found a great tutorial and we biked to the fabric store on Saturday and put them together today.  We had enough for everyone to have hats and I am pretty impressed at how they turned out.  We are especially fond of Baby Mario!

Iron Chef quesadillas

We recently introduced the boys to Iron Chef.  It speaks to their natural love of making everything a competition and they've really enjoyed cheering on the iron chefs as they take on the challengers.

We've been eating lots of cheese lately and I've been trying to decide the best ways to cut back to more reasonable levels.  I discovered that nutritional yeast in eggs is delicious and actually makes them taste rather cheesy so that's been a great addition to quiches and frittatas.  But one of our favorite lunches is quesadillas so today I googled for vegan quesadillas and found an amazing number of options that didn't just call for soy cheese.  Each of the older boys picked a recipe and we decided to battle it out tonight to decide whose cuisine reigns supreme.  Mr. 9 hummed the theme song while he was cooking and was actually quite into it.  He wanted us to move faster and kept reminding me that the clock was ticking.  Mr. 7 was more distractible but still interested.  And Mr. 3 just likes to be in the middle of everything.

Mr. 9's potato-based quesadillas (excuse my rather sad food pictures):

10 cloves garlic

1 pound organic potatoes, cut in 1/2 to 1-inch chunks

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Remove outer papery skins from garlic cloves but don't peel. Pan roast the cloves in a covered skillet over medium heat. Shake the skillet frequently to mix the cloves up. Roast until soft. Mine took about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Peel and mince.

Cover the potato chunks with cold water. Add salt. Boil until tender. Mine took about 25 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Drain the potatoes.

Place potatoes, oil, and garlic in a bowl. Mash with a potato masher, adding reserved cooking liquid until you get your desired texture. 

I added lime juice, chili powder, and black beans to this and spread it on tortillas.

Mr. 7's nutritional yeast-based recipe (even worse photo):

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lowfat soymilk
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon mustard
1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Put all sauce ingredients into a medium non-stick saucepan, add the salsa, and stir as you bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to cook, stirring, for at least 2 minutes after boiling. Sauce should be thick and smooth. 

Our decision: We really liked Mr. 7's quesadillas but the sauce was too thin and the boys thought I added a bit too much salsa into the sauce.  Mr. 1 ate tons of the Mr. 9's quesadillas (they were not that spicy and held together really well).  Both were good enough that we'll try them again!

Old North Bridge

We took advantage of the beautiful weather and visiting grandparents to explore the site of the "shot heard round the world".

Fridays at the art museum

We are lucky to live in a city with a great art museum that has a great homeschool art program.  So once a week the older boys see some pieces in the museum and then do a project while I wander the museum and then have a snack (okay, I'm more focused on the coffee but the small guys enjoy the snack).  It's a great way to finish the week.

Today I decided we should see the Impressionists, one of my favorite areas.  Mr. 3 kept asking where the painting was of and then telling me that he wanted to go there.  Most were in France, occasionally Italy.  I told him I would love to go but we had to pick up the brothers at 3pm so perhaps another day.

The antics of Mr. 1

Tonight at dinner Mr. 7 was complaining of a headache and wanted an ice pack (one of our all purpose cues along with hugs and kisses).  As he was holding it on his head, Mr. 1 kept putting his hand up and patting his head.  We finally realized he wanted something on his head so we gave him a washcloth and he happily held it on his head - just like his big brother.

During bath tonight, David was playing with Mr. 1 and would say "tickle, tickle, tickle" while tickling his belly.  Mr. 1 started repeating "tickle, tickle, tickle" rather impressively clear.  And then when we would laugh, he would fake laugh - rather like a cough.  So funny.  I caught a little bit on camera but he had already begun to lose interest in the game at that point.

That brings his words to mama, hi da, all done, and tickle, tickle.  And maybe I love you but we may be overinterpreting that.  He also waves hi, bye, and good night, kisses the bowl of mush in Goodnight Moon (so sweet), nods, and can show you where his head is (and sometimes his tummy).

And he can climb up the play structure at the oark, turn around, and slide down the slide on his tummy feet first.  All by himself - with his 3 enthusiastic brothers cheering him on.

Mr. 9 desperately wants Mr. 1 to walk - he actually started reading the child development books and giving me advice.  Unfortunately Mr. 1 stubbornly refuses and his brother is forced to just haul him around from adventure to adventure.  It's hard to decide if that will make him more or less excited to walk.

A T rex in the house

Dangerous carpool

We carpool to school with Mr. 3's very good friend J.  I have the morning shift and we listen to music, watch construction, and point out all the fire stations (J is quite a fan).  Today Mr. 3 decided he was a snake and J decided he was a lion and we growled and hissed our way to school.

Tonight while J was here playing they dressed up in costumes - combinations of shark, tiger, Pooh, and astronaut.  Mr. 3 pulled out the Mardi Gras beads and they added those to the costumes.  I decided this was perfect for Elephant and Piggy's I am Invited to a Party.  They decided they too would have a Fancy Pool Costume party and we turned on the music and ate snacks.  Unfortunately Mr. 3 didn't want pictures but it was very funny.

Daily walks

We've started trying to take a wall most mornings once Mr. 1 is up from nap.  It's such a beautiful time of year with the colors of fall around us and it feels so good to get out.  The older boys typically scooter and Mr. 3 bikes and I try to keep up with the stroller.  Our friend J joined us yesterday and the 4 boys fought bad guys the entire way.  It's great to have superheroes with you when things get dangerous.