Happy Campers

Another missing piece of our springtime puzzle was that the kids and I got to go tent-camping for the first time over Memorial Day weekend!  It was quite the adventure.  I think my favorite part was being all cozy and cuddly with my bundles in the tent at night.  Not enough to start co-sleeping on a regular basis mind you, but it felt really sweet being the mama bear protecting my warm, little cubs all night long.  Nothing separating us from the night but a thin sheet of canvas.  So now that I've done it, for anyone interested in doing the same I would recommend the following:

Don't go alone.  Go with a pack of fun, experienced, and most importantly, organized neighbors whose kids play well with your kids, and whose Mad Libs skills will have you cackling like hyenas around the campfire until beddy-bye time.  It helps when they have mad cooking and bartending skills too!

If you can, try to camp at the Orange County Fairgrounds during the annual Scottish Festival. That way bagpipes will serenade you from morning until night, you can gnaw on turkey legs all day in case you forgot to pack some in your cooler, and you'll be in awe of some very cool people holding on for dear life to some very cool traditions from the Old Country.

And finally, make sure there's a Target and/or Old Navy nearby. Just in case.  I picked up a bikini on the trip.  Go fig!  Happy camping!

Four Colly Birds

Some before-Christmas images before my family of four heads off into the wet and wild yonder. BTW, did you know that on the fourth day of Christmas it is "Four Colly Birds," and not "Four Calling Birds?" I sure didn't. Learn something new . . . My parents My friend Amber and her girl came over to decorate gingerbread men. We went next door to decorate gingerbread houses and see Santa! Snook decorated the tree!

Second Annual Chili Cook-Off

I'm so happy this has become a tradition. We held our street's Second Annual Chili Cook-Off this past Labor Day. It was bigger and better than last year's in so many ways. There was a homemade lemonade stand.
There were seven, count them, seven pots of chili to judge instead of last year's measly three.
There were lots more people. So many in fact that we decided to hold it on our front lawn instead of our backyard to allow for better flow.
The jumpy tent was the same. But bigger kids meant bigger risk of injury. Ouch.There was a centerpiece designed especially for this event. And there was a fabulous trophy, shown here by Bubs in his big boy underpants . . .
. . . and raised triumphantly here by the winner, Betsy! Her secret? Well, there were lots, but the ones that stuck with me were the cup of chopped black olives and two cups of cheese she threw in at the end. It was some seriously delicious chili, and a very good time. Except for when a few poor souls' chili made an, ahem, second appearance as a result of a cinnamon challenge gone horribly wrong. I'll spare you those photos. Congrats to all!

Boo!

Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Happy belated Halloween! I hope it was a great one for everyone. Ours was good but a little on the spooky side, thanks to an unexpected visit from the Ghost of Indecision. That pesky guy just would not leave us alone. For example, Snook couldn't decide if she wanted to be Cinderella, Chef Ariel, or a bat princess for Halloween. So she was a mixture of all three.Then, little Bubs couldn't decide if he wanted to be an elephant or Peter Criss from the band KISS. So he ended up being both."Peter Criss," wearing his pink ribbon to help raise awareness.My neighbor, Joy, made all of the boys' KISS costumes. They looked awesome!

As for pumpkin carving, there was both a nice jack-o-lantern (not pictured) and a mean one. And Halloween dinner was the same way. Should we serve bison steaks or buffalo steaks? We served both.Our friends, Amber and Jay

Finally, we couldn't figure out if we wanted to stay in our neighborhood and trick-or-treat or go to another friends' house for spider cake. So, again, we did both.It was both a very spooky AND A VERY FUN Halloween, indeed!

First Annual Chili Cook-Off

Labor Day marked our neighborhood's first annual chili cook-off. There was a considerable amount of trash-talking leading up to the event, but yesterday we all finally had to put our chili where our mouths are.The H's entry must have simmered for a good five hours. It teemed with odds and ends from the Sausage King, rang about eight alarms (give or take), and was goooooood. I can say that since I wasn't allowed to be a judge.Here is our neighbor's sister, Martha, explaining the Official CASI Rules & Guidelines to the judges. Yes, we all took this very seriously.There were only three entries total, two of which came from the same family. Oh well. These things have to start somewhere.Each bowl of chili was judged on five criteria: taste, color, aroma, consistency, and aftertaste. You could tell who the judges were by their creased eyebrows, frequent palate cleansing, and general confusion about the scoring system.During the judging, the contestants (Tim, Joy, Devil and the H) sweated it out in the kitchen, where the tension was palpable.Finally, the winner was announced.Can you guess who it was? The husband-and-wife team of Tim and Devil! Well, it would have been tacky for the host to win. Even if he is the only one who shouldn't have been disqualified for using beans. Hey guys, if it was a bean soup cook-off we would have said so. Kidding, kidding. All three chili entries were super tasty as evidenced by the three empty bowls at the end of the day. And I myself am a big lover of beans.For dessert, everyone shared some deliciously fudgy brownies.Our neighbor, Sammi, took home the grand prize for the coolest playground stunts. It was an all-around great event. Although next year we'll probably hold it in the late fall or winter, when hot and hearty chili sounds a litle more appetizing. Live and learn.