Haircuts, Costumes and Bread

What do all those have in common? Nothing, except that's what I've been dealing with for the past week. Benjamin and Matthew were both looking pretty shabby, so for Family Home Evening last Monday, Chad and I gave the boys haircuts. That's right. We did it ourselves. This was Matthew's first haircut by me, his second in his whole life, and it was the first time Chad cut Benjamin's hair. So we had a night of firsts all around. The boys did so good, and they don't look half bad, if I do say so myself. Take a look for yourselves.

As for the costumes, I finally broke down and bought them costumes for Halloween. Now, if Benjamin was not in Preschool where he will be in his costume on Thursday, I probably would not have gotten him one at all. But I decided to indulge him. I tried to talk him into the Handy Manny costume, but he wanted Elmo. I think it really looks cute, and here is a sneak peak before the big day. (I got Matthew a spider costume...it was either that or a pumpkin or a bumblebee...I thought that the spider was the manliest!!!!)

Now for the bread. You all know that I have been baking bread, and Chad will never let me stop because he does not like the store bought bread anymore. Well, the other day he mentioned that he really wanted some Cinnamon Raisin Bread like his grandmother used to make. So, on Thursday, I decided to dedicate the whole day to bread making and I made 3 loaves of whole wheat bread and 3 loaves of Cinnamon Raisin Bread. It tasted really good. The appearance was not as pretty as I would have liked, but I guess that is where practice comes in. And Chad wants me to practice some more because he really liked it. I guess you could say that I am just gluten for punishment.

Not much else is going on. We, my friends Nicole and Susan and myself, have started making the centers for our chocolates. In fact, we completed 3 double batches on Saturday, and then did one at lunch today. Now we just have to make the caramels. Is there anyone who would volunteer a couple of hours to help us stir the mixture? That's all it is, a lot of stirring, but worth it in the end, right. So in addition to making the 3 double batches on Saturday, I attended my ward's Super Saturday where I signed up to do something crafty. But they did say there would be step-by-step instructions so I figured that I couldn't fail. I didn't, but it wasn't until 4 hours later that I had a finished product. And now it is hanging on our wall, that's right, less than a week after it was made it is on the wall. We haven't figured out how to make it work, but it looks really pretty. Check it out.

And here are some random pictures. Well not really random, but I think they are cute. The first is of Benjamin after he just couldn't stay awake any longer and the second one is what Chad and Benjamin did while I was busy making the centers and the clock.