The Winners

Thank you all for your help with Dinner Campaign 2010. We had a great time, and the boys are already thinking about their nominations for next year.

Our final ballot consisted of the top two (three if there was a tie) choices in each category, and the winners were:

Salisbury steak, glazed carrots, egg nog...

...and "Our Favorite Chocolate Cake".

Who won the election?

We all did.

Our Favorite Chocolate Cake

1 pkg. Devil's Food cake mix (is there any other kind?)

4 oz. instant chocolate pudding mix

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1/2 cup oil

12 oz. bag MILK chocolate chips

Grease and flour your bundt pan. Say the word "bundt" a few times (the way they say it on Big Fat Greek Wedding), tell your kids they can't lick the beaters 'cause there's raw eggs in the batter. Bake at 350 degree's for 45 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes, slide a small rubber spatula down the sides, and dump onto your favorite plate. No frosting needed. Enjoy!

Dinner Campaign 2010

This week we are continuing our annual election week tradition of campaigning for next Monday night's dinner. Since it is rare for anyone to vote for anything other than their own nominee's, we need YOUR help this year. I have put polls on our sidebar so that you can all vote as well. The polls close on Saturday night at 10:00 PM. The top two choices in each category will go on the final ballot, and our family will cast our votes on Sunday evening.

Take a look at the posters that are hanging all over our house, and then vote for whatever YOU would choose to eat if you were lucky enough to come to dinner at our house on Monday night :o)

Top left to right: Applesauce, Kool-Aid world

Bottom left to right: Ice Cream Tree, BLT machine

Feel free to take a "sticker" if you'd like one.

(No need to add a link...I'm not looking for extra traffic).

The first day of school...a Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a young mother gave birth to her fourth child two weeks before school started. She had a goal to keep her house in order for those two weeks, and just knew that when school started, life would be a breeze.

The night before school started, she gave haircuts, laid out new clothes that the kids were excited to wear, and hung their backpacks on their hooks.

In the morning, the kids came upstairs, dressed and ready for the day, and ready to read scriptures as a family. This young mother then made a nice scrambled egg breakfast with a glass of juice and a piece of whole wheat toast on the side.

While the kids ate, the mother got dressed in her pre-baby plaid shorts (since she was already back to her pre-pregnancy weight) and used an expensive flat-iron to straighten her freshly washed hair.

After breakfast, the kids brushed their teeth, put their toothbrushes away, and happily lined up to take their "first day of school pictures" which turned out so well she decided to have them blown up to an 8x10 size to hang on the wall. The baby slept the whole time.

While the older two kids were gone for the day, this mother had big plans. She made back to school cupcakes with mini chalkboards, an apple, and a cute little piece of chalk made out of a tic tac. It was difficult between feeding the new baby, and rotating loads of laundry, but the image of sitting down with her children and talking about their first day kept her going.

When she finished the cupcakes, she somehow managed to fold laundry, take a nap, and play a game with the 5 year old since he was starting Kindergarten the following week and it was their last chance to have time together.

The older kids finally arrived home, hung up their backpacks, and shared their day with her over cupcakes and milk. After feeding the dog, practicing their piano, and tidying up their rooms, they played video games while the mother made a wonderful dinner so they could sit around the table as a family and share their day with Dad when he arrived home from work.

By the end of the day, the mother was exhausted. She looked around at all the dirty dishes, and the crumbs on the floor and wanted to cry. Just then, some music started playing in the background, and all the dishes began to sing and dance and put themselves in the dishwasher! The mop danced around the room while fairy dust sparkled in the air, and the mother drifted off to sleep, dreaming about the wonderful day she would have tomorrow.

And they all lived happily ever after.

And now for the real story:

Once upon a time, a young mother gave birth to her fourth child two weeks before school started. She had a goal to keep her house in order for those two weeks, and just knew that when school started, life would be a breeze.

The night before school started, she was ever so grateful that Grandma had cut the kids' hair a couple weeks ago, since they had to spend the evening cleaning out their backpacks from last year. Luckily, they didn't find any rotten fruit or moldy sandwiches. She told the kids to lay out their clothes, and when she saw that one of them was going to wear a stupid T-shirt that portrayed pizza as the only food group, she played her "Mom card" and made them wear stupid shirts with collars.

In the morning, the kids came upstairs, coughing all the way (apparently they finally caught the cold that everyone in town has), and the baby needed to eat during family scripture study. Instead of making a nice scrambled egg breakfast, Mom burped the baby while the kids ate the sugary chocolate cereal that Dad picked out last week, and left a few wet "krispies" in each bowl to harden like cement.

When the baby was happy, the mother was thrilled to get dressed in her pre-baby plaid shorts (she was amazingly already back to her pre-pregnancy weight, and even though none of her other pants fit yet, the shorts did!). It made up for the fact that she didn't get a shower, and didn't have time to do her hair.

After breakfast, the kids announced that they were out of toothpaste, so they had to use Mom and Dad's toothpaste. Mom didn't care because she considered the morning (and the entire summer) a success, just because they knew what color their toothbrushes were.

They really needed to leave to get to school, but the mom herded the kids outside to take pictures, yelling the entire time that they needed to make themselves laugh so that their smiles wouldn't look so constipated.

While the older two kids were gone for the day, this mother had big plans. She had a few errands to run, and she had seen some cute back to school cupcakes with mini chalkboards, an apple, and a little piece of chalk that she wanted to make for after-school snack.

The errands turned out to be an all-day event. First she took the 5 year old to Kindergarten testing (10 minutes late because she was feeding the baby, and because the front door of the school is as far from the Kindergarten class as it can possibly be). Next they went to the "Courthouse/DMV/USU extension/Workforce Services/Sherriff's Office/Health Department/WIC office" building to turn in some paperwork. She realized while filling out the info for the baby's birth certificate that she needed to go to the store and get cash to pay for it, as well as the one dollar she owed the USU extension office for the soccer season that was starting that week. She left the paperwork, and lugged the baby in the carseat back up the stairs and out to the car, and then into the store, where the 5 year old wanted to eat lunch because he was starving. After the 5 year old had finished off his bag of chips without touching his pizza, the mom got a to-go box, and her cash, and after showing the new baby to three or four people who wanted a peek, she went back to the "Courthouse/DMV/USU extension/Workforce Services/Sherriff's Office/Health Department/WIC office" building, where she discovered that both of the Health Department employees, as well as the USU extension ladies, had gone to lunch. Her uterus and sciatic nerve were beginning to tell her that it was time to rest, but she kept plugging along anyway, resolving to return that afternoon to finish her errands (but she forgot).

There obviously wasn't time to make the cupcakes, or fold the laundry, or take a nap, but she decided that it didn't really matter because her kids probably didn't even know what a chalkboard was, since they have SmartBoards in their classrooms, and instead she would make cookies with the 5 year old, since it was one of their last chances to do something together before he started school in a week. They started the cookies, but within minutes the 5 year old decided he'd rather play video games, so the Mom finished them herself.

The older kids arrived home, and since the cookies were not quite finished, they dropped their backpacks and shoes on the floor and ran downstairs to watch their brother play Wii. The mom asked how their day was, and they answered, "Fine". The mother told them to feed the dog, practice their piano, and clean their rooms, but she was too tired to enforce it, and couldn't really bear the thought of listening to their piano lesson, so they played on the computer instead (and accidentally unplugged the router so the Internet stopped working). Since their cousin was coming over to use the Internet that night, the mother spent the next half an hour trying to figure out why the router wasn't working, and just when she fixed the problem, she got a call reminding her of Pack meeting at the swimming pool that night.

In lieu of dinner, she gave one kid the leftover pizza from the 5 year old's lunch, and two kids had yet another bowl of chocolatey sugary cereal, before they rushed off to pack meeting at the pool. Since the Dad was still at work, and the Mom couldn't get into the pool so soon after a new baby, she sat on the sidelines and did her best to watch three kids (in two different pools) who don't know how to swim. Her excitement at fitting into her pre-baby shorts was deflated when she saw the other cute young mom's in their size 2 swimsuits, trendy sunglasses, and flat-ironed hair and she realized that she was just an overweight girl in plaid shorts who was wearing a ponytail because she still hadn't gotten a shower.

By the end of the day, the mother was exhausted. She looked around at all the dirty dishes, and the crumbs on the floor and wanted to cry. Instead she went to bed, while her husband stayed up until 2 AM with the baby. When she got up in the night to feed the little one, all the errands and carrying that carseat had caught up with her and she could barely walk.

Thankfully, her husband let her sleep in, and she vaguely remembered waving goodbye to her children (from her bed) on their second day of school.

The mother slept in, fed the baby, and felt much better after blogging about her day. She was just about to take a shower when she noticed the time and realized that since it was Friday, the kids would be home early.

A few minutes later, they walked in the door, dropped their backpacks, and asked "What's for lunch?"

And the mother realized they were out of bread.

So the kids had leftover cookies for lunch and they all lived happily ever after.

Justin Taggart (J.T.)

He's here!

I will have to write the labor story later, but wanted to post a few pics in the meantime. Todd sent a mass e-mail, but there are a lot of addresses we don't have in our laptop, so if you didn't get one, that's why.

He was born on 8/9/10 at 11 AM with lots of DARK hair.
So far he will take a pacifier (hooray!) and he's a very good baby. He hasn't cried since the delivery and just makes cute little squeaky noises throughout the day.
We're getting ready to take his "tags" off, so I guess we can't return him :o)

He's a keeper!

Graves Mythology

I mentioned in my last post that we are all about Greek Mythology at our house. Grandma let Brayden borrow the Percy Jackson series while we were visiting for Memorial Day. The size of the books was overwhelming to him, but he started anyway.

He read them all by June, and now Caleb is reading them as well.

We rented the movie a few days after it came out, and watched it as a family.

The next day, I asked the boys what their name would be if they were Greek God's. This is what we came up with for our family:

Todd- Therapes, the God of Mental Illness

Using his Sigmund Freud Magic 8 ball, he'll either fix your head, or give you Schizophrenia.

Felicia- Prozacia or Celexia, the Goddess of Hormones

Using my slingshot and pills, I'll make the men pregnant...

Brayden- Intelligon, the God of Knowledge and Facts

Using nothing more than words, he'll make you feel like you should go back to school.

(Fact: There are over 1000 species of bats. Fruit bats pollinate...)

(Here Jackie, I drew you a picture of a Vampire Squid.)

Caleb- Empathes, the God of Friendship

By sharing and playing fair, he'll make friends with anyone. Should you choose not to play fair, he'll attack by whining that will require the patience of Job.

Dillon- Hershius, the God of...Chocolate

Using his laserlike puppy dog eyes, he'll melt every vegetable on the planet into chocolate.

Fun at Grandma's

Grandma had all kinds of fun activities planned while we were visiting. (Who is she and what has she done with my mother??)

Here are the kids playing with marshmallows and toothpicks.

If you look closely, you'll notice my feet on the reclining couch in the background...

My kids made hydra's. For those of you who aren't sure what a hydra is, they are a mythical creature with several heads. When you cut off one of the heads, two grow back in it's place. Ever since Grandma let Brayden borrow the Percy Jackson series, and now Fablehaven, we're all about Greek Mythology at our house.

A *few* of the marshmallows may have been destroyed before reaching their full potential...
The Fed-Ex guy showed up with three plasma cars for the kids to ride on the dance floor. Grandma and Aunt Melece got in on the fun too. Amazingly, I am still under the weight limit, but I'm not very "bendy" these days and opted out.

Great news!

I have family moving to our tiny town.

maybe you didn't hear me

I HAVE FAMILY MOVING TO OUR TOWN!

My cousin, Erin, and her family are gonna be our neighbors. Her husband, Nate, just accepted a job as the music teacher for our school district.

Can you tell I'm a little excited? The hardest part of living here, for me, has always been that we are so far from family (and Hobby Lobby), but now I have family here.

It's a good day.

No, It's a great day.

Congrats to Nate and Erin. I know Nate will do an awesome job with the music here, and I'm sure Erin will learn to love it like I have :o). It really is a wonderful place to raise a family...especially if you have your family near.

This picture of their family is outdated. They now have an adorable two week old baby boy, so our babies are going to be about 4 months apart! Oh, the fun we're gonna have...

Erin and I grew up in the same tiny town. With Grandma's house close. And cousin's close. And 5th Monday Family Home Evenings with the whole extended family. Around here you see the same thing. Everyone is related to everyone...except me...until now.

Goodness, it's a good day.

Now I'm crying...

I managed to control my emotions while all the men were here (not easy for a pregnant woman), but now I'm crying. I cannot thank my family enough for all the sacrifces they've made this weekend to help us.

We never would've made our deadline, and now I think we can (the carpet is coming on Thurs).

Tyler is an engineer, and a woodworker/cabinetmaker extraordinare. He brought his favorite saw, and homemade little baseboard setting gadgets, and trimmed out the rooms. He also re-installed the door that Todd fussed with for over four hours, using a little technique that he learned in his own house last week.

Did I mention that he's trying to finish a room in his basement right now, too? And yet, he took a day to drive five hours and help me. His wife was home priming walls by herself.

Dad is one of the best painters I know. He didn't even use any tape while painting navy blue against a white ceiling. He just does it freehand. It's amazing to me. He also made MANY trips to the hardware store, puttied holes, sealed baseboards, and installed light fixtures. He was cussing at the fact that I chose three different colors of paint for the boys' room (four counting the ceiling and baseboards) but he did what I wanted anyway.

I don't even want to know how many hours of sleep he missed by coming, and I'm pretty sure he took a day off...not easy on a Saturday, especially with Easter coming. He is a bakery manager and often starts working in the wee hours of the morning and then keeps going to make sure the shelves are always stocked. There's no such thing as a 40 hour work week with Dad. He probably also missed out on a nice day to work on his yard.

My bro-in-law, Jon, is the tile man. I don't really know where he learned it, but I know he's worked construction, and has done plenty of tiling in his days. I hear rumor that this was his idea. He saw the list on my blog and called Tyler saying, "There's no way they're going to get done in time...we have to go."

Yeah, he's my sister's husband, the one who lost a car this week, and probably has all kinds of Physical Therapy notes to catch up on, but he was here instead.

Then there's my brother Ben. Yeah, I didn't mention in my last post that he was coming, because I didn't know. Nobody knew. I talked to him on Friday night on his cell phone while he was stuck in CA traffic. Turns out he was actually on his way here. He slept in his car, and knocked on my door at 8:00 AM. This is when I nearly cried. He drove 9 hours to be here.

I didn't even dare ask what he was missing. He's a PHD student, a professor, a piano teacher, and certainly had plenty he could've been doing. Thankfully he stayed over last night and got a decent nights sleep before heading home. His wife is filling in on the organ for him today, and planted strawberries by herself yesterday.

Ben cut the tile, and Jon laid it. Todd and I will have to figure out how to do the grout, but I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this part finished. I know there would've been blood, sweat, tears, and swearing if we'd had to tackle this ourselves.


Here's a sneak peak at the boys room. We still need to build shelves, a desk, and add the trim to the wall.
Ben and Jon each took a turn "coming out of the closet" and as you can imagine we had a great day working, talking, and laughing.


Tyler, Jon, and Dad left at 8:30 last night, to get home in the middle of the night, so Dad could get a few hours of sleep before his bishopric meeting this morning. Jon had to get up and make a 2 1/2 hour drive back to Idaho this morning so my sister could teach her Young Women's lesson. Ben left this morning, after staying up late playing the piano with the kids. They love to play with Uncle Ben.

Thank you to everyone who had a part in this, and for all your sacrifices in our behalf. It means so much to us. I hope we can do something to help all of you sometime.


PS- Ben, the boys found a dime on the piano bench this morning, and they're certain it's yours. I told them they could keep it, but they insist that it's yours. Would you like me to send it in the mail?

We're having a...

...nother boy!

Here's the proof:

Boy or Girl?

"The next day" (as Dillon would say) is our 20 week ultrasound! We are taking the kids out of school so they can be there, and I'm excited to make it a family day.

I found out Dillon's gender at 3:00 AM in the hospital ER (I had driven there by myself), while the technician was looking for my appendix. It was a little anti-climactic.

Here's a fun conversation from dinner the other night:

Dillon: "If our baby is a girl, will we have two Mom's?"

Brayden and Caleb were quick to inform him that she would be a sister, not a mom.

Todd (jumping on this one): "You might be surprised at how 'motherly' little sisters can be...and just remember that 'motherly' rhymes with 'smotherly'..."

The statistics are not in our favor. In Todd's family, there is no variation in gender among his siblings' kids. Larry has 4 boys. We have 3 boys. Michael has 3 girls, and Aaron has 3 girls. On my side we have Tyler with 3 boys, and then finally we have Charlotte who somehow got hold of a new recipe, and broke the mold by having a boy and a girl.

Whatever it is, I am just thrilled to be 20 weeks along and still pregnant! I will be happy with whatever Heavenly Father sends.

I've had a few bumps along the way with each pregnancy, and this one is no different. This time my blood platelets are low. Apparently, I've had an "immune system malfunction", and my body has formed antibodies that are fighting off my blood platelets, which help the blood to clot. It is likely that the condition will go away after the baby is born, but until then I have to have my blood monitored closely to make sure my platelet count doesn't get too low. The bill for my last blood draw was $450 so it's getting to be an expensive pregnancy considering my many ultrasounds and now the blood tests.

It is possible for the antibodies to cross over into the placenta, which could cause the baby to be born with low platelets as well. Because of this, we will not use a vacuum or forceps during the delivery, and if there is any complication that may cause bruising or bleeding for the baby, I will have an emergency c-section. Of course I don't want to have a c-section, but there's no way to know if the baby's platelets are low until after it is born, so I'm preparing for the possibility.

I'll post again tomorrow as soon as we get home!

During

With baby on the way it has finally become a priority to finish a bedroom downstairs, and we decided to do the family room while we were at it. So far, Todd has done 90% of the work himself. My 10% has been mudding the walls.

I hate mudding. It's like decorating the biggest damn cake on the planet, and we all know how I feel about decorating cakes.

Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some "before and after pictures"...but for now you get the "during" pics.

Let's begin the tour:

This stairway has been completely nasty since the day we moved in (and probably for at least 25 years before that). The walls were covered in dirty handprints that wouldn't wash off, and cobwebs that I couldn't reach--even with a broom. Todd primed it this week and I tell ya it's just amazing. I like to stand and stare at the clean walls in all my spare time. It's the little things in life...

The problem has been that it's very difficult for me to get up and down the stairs this week :o)

This is the family room:

We are hoping to texture the ceilings tonight and do the last layer of mud on the walls tomorrow. We got a temporary storage unit to store all the big stuff while we remodel, but everything else has been shoved into the bathroom, storage room, quilting room, kitchen, and our master bedroom. I'm feeling very claustrophobic and CANNOT WAIT to get my house back in order.

Once this project is complete, everything that doesn't have a "place"...is going to the DUMP!


Here's the storage room. It's good that the kids are skinny because they can fit around the ladder on the stairs, and slither through this path to get a can of soup when we need it.

I found a coffee table at DI that I think will be perfect for the family room (I love the big baskets underneath)...but it's sure in the way right now.

This is Brayden and Caleb's future room. That wooden chair [frame] has been mighty *helpful* throughout the process. I'm sure glad it's still kickin' around. *sarcasmHave I mentioned I can't wait until this project is done?

And more mess:

Happy Birthday, Dilly Rob!

My baby is FIVE!

Dillon got up this morning, and after asking if he looked five, announced that he "used to doe up to Tawub's cheet, but now I doe up to Tawub's bwain." translation: "I used to go up to Caleb's cheek, but now I go up to Caleb's brain"

I guess he grew overnight.

Oh, how I love this little boy. We're friends, you know. On the days he doesn't have preschool, it's just the two of us. Mommy and Dillon. Dillon and Mom. Even though he'd rather be playing with "his boys", I'm so glad we've had this time together. When he smiles, sunshine comes out of his eyes, and it makes my heart happy.

Here are a few facts about Dillon:

-he loves sugar in any form, and he can sniff it out from anywhere in the house.
-he grew up too fast, thanks to his older brothers. He never got into Elmo...he just went straight for the Transformers and Star Wars stuff.
-he's our most athletic kid and is excited to play soccer this year.
-he's very shy in public, but he "rules the roost" at home.
-he's by far our messiest kid. Not too keen on cleaning up...
-he's the most accident prone. He's had a broken elbow, stitches, staples, glue, and too many nosebleeds to count.
-he's going to be an awesome big brother. He talks to the baby (in my belly) every single day, and can't wait to have a "sistuh owe bwuhwuh".

It runs in the family

I finally found some pictures of my childhood when my hair was more red,

but it's Monday and there are three new episodes of Smallville to watch online, so I'll try to post them tomorrow.

I did find this picture of my boys and my little niece, Amber.

She got the recessive genes as well.

So, what do you think? Is our new baby going to be a red-head?

Small town livin...

I went to the grocery store this afternoon to see what the deli was serving for lunch. Monday is supposed to be Italian, but it was Chinese...'cause they never follow the schedule. I decided to have the chicken lo mein, but I had a few other things I needed, and decided to get my lunch last so it would still be warm when I got home.

By the time I got back around to the deli counter, I was in the back of the longest line I've ever seen in this county (except for the annual demolition derby). The man in front of me, Mark, offered to let me go ahead of him, but I told him I was just fine.

And then it happened.

Mark got the last serving of chicken lo mein.

My heart hung heavy as I got up to the counter and ordered plain old rice.

I came home and promptly e-mailed Todd, cursing Mark for taking the last of the lo mein, and he promptly e-mailed me back saying he'd be happy to "bust him up" for me, if only he weren't a former navy seal.

Just as I took my first bite of rice, there was a knock at the door, and my friend Julie (whose husband came home teaching last night) stood there with a container of soup and a loaf of artisan bread.

Cue the "Hallelujah Chorus".

Thanks for lunch, Julie. It was much appreciated. Todd thanks you too, 'cause he's no match for a navy seal.

Later in the day, I stopped at the bank to make a deposit before taking Caleb to basketball practice. I only had one kid in the van, but look what we got:

Three suckers. Because Sister Duella knows me, and knows that I have three kids. I can't stop smiling about it.

We showed up to basketball practice, and the door was locked. Candi was there with her son, and made a few phone calls to see if anyone knew what was going on. No need for a phone book...everybody knows each other's phone numbers here.

Todd had just informed me that the coach and his family were in California today, so I rolled down my window and told Candi that unless he'd gotten a substitute, there probably wouldn't be any practice.

That was fine with me, because Brayden had an "off day" and decided to stay home. At least this way he wasn't missing his practice.

We got home, and I asked Caleb to bring in the garbage can. A minute later we heard screaming (mixed with laughter) and ran outside to this:

We never shovel our driveway since it's not paved, and apparently it's gotten a bit slippery. Luckily he was not hurt at all, and we all got a good laugh.

The neighbors were probably laughing too.

Amazing

I think in the past I have taken this process for granted, but this time, I just can't get over the miracle of this baby growing inside me.

I had my appointment on Saturday, and to my surprise, the doctor did another ultrasound. I certainly wasn't going to complain! Everything looked good. The baby was squirming around, and the boys got to see it. I wish I had a picture of the boys' faces. They were grinning from ear to ear, and afterwards Dillon said, "Our baby waved at us".

Six Weeks:

Eight Weeks:
Eleven Weeks:

The baby is supposed to double in length this week. It's just amazing to me that a few weeks ago we had a "blob of cells" and now we have a baby with fingers, toes, a beating heart, and the ability to move around and even swallow.

Birth is truly a miracle.

It's not snowman snow...

We rarely get the kind of snow you need to build snowmen here. It's just too dry and powdery. Our first storm of the year was perfect snowman snow, but Dillon had preschool that day, and by the time he got home, it had all melted.

His eyes sparkled when he saw the snow this morning. When he got home from preschool, I asked him if it was "snowman snow", and he sadly told me it was not.

A few minutes later, however, he came in with his gloves on and said, "Mom, I don't care if it's not snowman snow. I'm going to make a dead snowman."

I helped him get his coat on, and he insisted that he needed a pickle for the nose. I have plenty of carrots in the fridge, but he was determined to use a pickle.

Ten minutes later we had this wonderful dead snowman in our yard:



Oh, and let me tell you about the kid-sized snowshovel. It's hands down the best purchase I have ever made. Our kids fight over who gets to shovel the steps. Next time we pass by Smith and Edwards, I will most definitely be purchasing two more!

Pumpkin carving

Our kids haven't had the chance to carve pumpkins for years. I was dreading the whole experience, but it actually turned out to be quite fun.

Todd was in charge of helping Dillon, and after much debate, he chose to use his sheetrock knife rather than his sawzall. I think it was a good choice.

Brayden did most of his himself...guts and all. He loved every minute of it.

I told Caleb he had to do this himself, thinking that if he hated it we wouldn't have to do it next year, but I eventually broke down and scraped the pulp out for him.

The boys chose their patterns online, and were thrilled with the outcome.

Brayden's bat, Dillon's jack, and Caleb's ghost.