My sister and I went to the midnight show. The biggest surprise was the young girls laughing through the entire film, when I didn't feel like the scenes were intended to be funny. a testament to the cheesy delivery and awful make-up I suppose.

USA Today sums it up well:

Verdict: Negative
And despite questionable casting, wooden acting, laughable dialogue and truly awful makeup, nothing is likely to stop young girls from swarming to this kitschy adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's popular novel.” —Claudia Puig

That said, I did enjoy it a little and look forward to seeing it again in a QUIET setting.

Isaac is starting to come around to my healthy recipes but Xander somehow gets by without eating much of anything I serve. I'm hoping he'll be more tempted to try them if I blend out the textures and blatant vegetables.

...nope, it didn't work. Xander gagged on the single bite of soup. It is the most mild flavored soup, I swear!

Here is the list of things he will eat:

Mac n' cheese (whole wheat pasta is okay)
PB&J (whole wheat bread and low sugar "all fruit spread" is okay)
Pizza (again, whole wheat is fine)
Spaghetti Pie recipe (whole wheat pasta)
bananas
grapes
baked potatoes

otherwise...cookies, cakes, candy, chips and sugar cereals are the foods he loves. He is definitely my junk food junky!

One of them has refused to sleep in the coop and chooses to rough it in the wild. I've had a hard time finding her and Jason and I watched her heading to roost tonight...

Found you! Way up in the tree...a tree I have seen two raccoons. We should be seeing our first eggs from her next month. I hope she makes it.

By the way...

do you remember my interest in maybe slaughtering our own chicken for food? The mother hen had come down with Marek's disease and could barely walk. She'd fall on her head when I put her down and the other hens were trying to peck her to death.

I decided to put her down. and although it wouldn't be for food (since she was unhealthy) it would be an opportunity for me to learn about the process and see if it would be something we could do.

I researched a couple places for how to slaughter a chicken and decided to give it a go.

One site said to bonk them in the head with a stick to stun them first. Jason actualy did this by accident once by barely bumping one, coralling it into the coop and it layed on the ground looking dead for 20 minutes. So I give it a try and she's sitting there, eyes wide open, looking at me like "why did you just hit me with that stick?"

So I forget that and just do a little chicken calming and lay her on my chopping 4x4 over some straw to absorb the blood. I position her neck and go for a direct chop with a hatchet. NOT EVEN A SCRATCH! again she's looking at me like "why did you just hit me with that axe?"

It was awful! I was just abusing this poor chicken and not getting the job done. Jason said it was because I had it on straw and it absorbed the shock. ooops!

He did the deed for me, no problem and then the kids and I opened her up to see the anatomy. It was so tough! the feathers were a big mess and I needed a better knife for the job. I decided if it was to be done for real it would need some investments like the big pot, the chicken plucking tumbler and an outdoor sink. Not worth it for our occasional chicken farming on the sly in our suburban hood.

I am glad we got to experience it though. The kids and I got to dissect the crop and see what she'd been eating, find the lungs, heart and a kidney. There was also a really weird yellow yolk looking thing in her chest cavaty.

It was an interesting experience.

Becoming a tradition for our kids age 1-2...

simon...

Xander...

I took the camera out for some video. Zoe practices video editing. I asked Jason if it was too cheesy and his response: "Like Swiss."

Too bad I have to fight for my right to use it. Even Simon was going to be royally upset until he could swing the controller around for himself.

Forts! Man, I used to get up early and get every dining room chair involved in my Saturday morning creations. Good times.

The spice line up. (simon is good at dragging a chair around to get what he needs)

Simon figured out the process after two houses and after that wouldn't let me hold his hand or his bag of candy. His bag was dragged along the sidewalk. It was a crack up!

ran through the corn maze today...

Children of the corn...haha!

Can you see the beautiful fall view out my living room window? It's fire yellow now...the prettiest season before I lose my privacy screen altogether until spring. We live in a split level home and it feels like a tree house with tree tops in every window.

Now I'm eager to go on another camping adventure. I think I'm addicted to camping:D We have another hike to cross off the list at Sauvie Island, so that may be our day trip tomorrow.

Since there is no way I can back in the trailer in the dark (not even in the day, really), we stayed in a cheesy RV only park, that had a convenient pull-through site, the first night.

Look at all the people who RV! It's an interesting culture of people and I think I am liking them very much. There is always a friendly person to help me back in my trailer (during the daylight hours).

On our way to our intended camp site, Devil's Lake Campground, we stopped at the light house and "Octopus tree" at Cape Meares.

Xan and I express our disdain for the no climbing rule. The sweetest climbing tree you have ever seen and we're not allowed! (looks like I'm accosting him with my camera lens. haha!)

Silly root beer drinkers.

And finally the reason we stayed at the lake...

I wanted to try fishing. It was the first time, aside from one time at camp, and it was fun! Unfortunately the kids had no attention span for it and were being loud and throwing lily pads and rocks into the water. Of course if it weren't for those issues I WOULD have caught a huge fish. No doubt about it;)

(I made them bigger, upon click, so you can download for web sizes, Aundi, Casey, mom and dad).

And my little assistant, Simon, who let me get one shot. Kinda soft focus in the eyes...figures. Some good looking cousins, both with steel blue eyes.

There were a couple locals sitting behind us comparing warrants and that was almost as interesting as the view.

Alas, we are home again and poor Simon was not happy about the abandonment. He stared at me with such a blank face the entire way home from the Max station. It was our first time leaving him, thankfully with my sister and in his own home, but maybe still too soon.

Our next trip will be with the kids and I am thinking it will be The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. It sounds interesting! I hope we can really explore the house in detail and not feel a separation of too many velvet ropes and closed off quarters.

My curiosity is satiated and I am glad for that but I don't think this visit will be repeated. There is no charm to this place. Like one giant mall which I usually try to avoid. Superficial, smoky and porn on every corner.

I am getting old I guess. I am going to have to take the kids camping again to cleanse myself.

not too good with the self, couple photo

I think Elvis and Zoro was a little offended by our photo request..."no...errr...um...can you take a picture of us? no, I don't mean us as in you and me, I mean us as in "us" ...us and not you" with our silly $18 drink that produced minor belly bloat without the anticipated, relaxing buzz of an alcoholic beverage after a long day of walking. oh well.