don't mess with a man in a coconut bra

this weekend we said goodbye to summer in the family yard.

with a proper hawaiian luau.

you've never seen so many men in grass skirts.

hawaiian haystacks, shave ice, and a variety of other goodies were served.

complete with little hawaiian umbrellas for our drinks.

i just love an umbrella in my drink:).

my favorite part of the night was when the dancers came.

it was one of the dancer's birthdays,

and his mom, the leader of the show, had us all sing him "happy birthday."

she also explained how in Tonga {i think it was Tonga} that your nieces and nephews are called your sons and daughters and your cousins are called your brothers and sisters.

tighter of a bond than how we separate families in our culture here.

she said that if you never have any kids you will still have someone to take care of you when you are old b/c your brothers and sisters will have kids, and their kids will call you mom, and take care of you when you get old like they would their mom b/c that's how the culture is.

i loved that part.

she also said that the reason why Tongans are so large is b/c when you walk down the street you are always invited to sit down and eat with everyone in your family that you pass along the road,

and since everyone is in your family,

you stop and eat several meals on the way to everywhere.

b/c a Tongan has a big heart, and cannot pass up an opportunity to fill their tummies with their family.

i loved that part more:)

the Hawaiian portion made me want to go to Hawaii.

and let my kids get Hawaiian skin kissed tans.

and smell the flowers in the air when you step off of the plane.

and feel the humidity soak into your pores.

and become so relaxed that you can't ever imagine having anything stressful in your life ever again.

but sitting there in our lawn chairs,

the warmth of the day started to cool off, like we were sitting on a sandy beach of hawaii, with the cool ocean air brushing our faces goodnight.

and hawaii felt pretty close in the family yard.

BUT we got to go home and sleep in our own beds:)

aloha.

don't ever mess with a man wearing a coconut bra.

ever.

aloha.

as in goodbye.

or goodnight.

whichever.

salsa babies {canning "how to"}

"well, i'll say one thing. it sure takes a lot of plates to can." 

-sean

.....................

my new favorite hobby to do with sean:

CANNING.

he is an expert chopper.

9 years of working at subway & quiznos trained him well.

{and got us through college i might add.}

he cored those tomatoes like a professional.

a professional "sandwich artist" to be exact.

my eyes could not have stood the heat of the jalapeno.

call me weak if you may.

it's true.

the jalapeno was no force to reckon with sean.

it didn't phase him a bit.

true mexican blood he has.

and folks,

canning is just not as hard as i thought it would be.

it's a whole lot of fun.

and standing in the kitchen.

but you must have a buddy.

so if you don't enjoy standing in the kitchen,

and you don't have a buddy,

i don't recommend canning.

but i do love standing in my kitchen.

and i do love my buddy,

and it gave me a great sense of accomplishment to do it.

baby chase was a little gem and napped the entire time.

he woke up just as i was putting my salsa babies in their bath.

max poked her head around the corner asking me if i was all done more times than i could count.

it was darling.

she kept telling me she was being "nice."

b/c when she's not being "nice" i very matter of factly tell her it might be a good time for a nap.

she was much too interested in what i was doing in the kitchen today to take a nap.

and i was much to busy with boiling, sanitizing, and ladling to make her.

brennan watched spiderman movies on my phone and on our tv.

thank you apple tv.

you are great.

i believe it is just a fancy name apple gave a wireless router for your tv 

that transmits to your phone and other apple devices.

very exciting, nonetheless.

and it babysat brennan all afternoon.

just after i nursed chase and decided max had better take a nap,

my little bathing beauties had boiled their recommended times, 

plus 10 min. for high elevation,

and were ready to get out.

i set them on a towel,

and do you know what they did?

they started singing to me.

POP!

POP! POP!

POP!

POP! POP! POP! POP!

POP!

POP!

POP!

sweet music to my ears.

those little jars of salsa singing to me as they sealed.

it made me jump and shout horray:)

so ladies and gentlemen,

i give you,

a 

CANNING "HOW TO":

FOR SALSA CANNING RECIPE, 

CLICK HERE.

 1. buy canning/pickling salt, a big canning bath pot w/funnel, magnetic stick, and grabber tongs.

2. put your glasses on a tray in your oven, set to 300*.

3. put your rings in a water bath on the stove, 

turn down a "titch" if they start to boil, leave them there warming.

4. fill your water bath about half way, turn to medium heat, don't let boil.

 5. follow your canning recipe--we did salsa today.

{pickles, green beans, and raspberry jam next year i hope}

6. with salsa, you chop everything and put it into the pot to let boil for ten minutes.
we used our blender to minimize chopping time.

7. spoon it into the heated jars, 

leaving about a 1/2" space from the top of the jar unfilled.

8. wipe the rims so the jars will seal properly.

9. put the lids in with the rings for about a minute,
then dry off lids and rings from the water, 

and fasten them onto the jar "just tight," 

but not "too tight."

{yes you read that right.

these were the directions my neighbor gave me. i LOVE HER.}

10. put the jars into their water bath pot.

11. make sure the water covers them by 1" above their lids.

{just like hard boiled eggs.}

12. bring water to a boil.

13. once the water is boiling, cook them for the time your recipe says.

{i had to add 10 min. to my recipe time b/c of the altitude in utah.}

{click here for an elevation guide.}

14. once bathing time is completed, 

remove jars from bath with "grabber tongs" and let sit on a towel to cool.

{don't touch.}

15. you will hear the jars "singing" to you when they start popping.

{this is when you start cheering b/c you know they're sealing.}

16. leave them alone until they're cold.

17. store them, eat them, give them away.

HOORAY!!!

big thanks to:

sean

julie

tiffany

linsey

they taught me all i know!

HAPPY HAPPY CANNING:)

oh how i love to learn a new skill.

wish me luck {canning}

today i will be teaching myself how to can.

salsa specifically.

i will let you know how it goes...

{i have an entire tomato plant more to pick outside too.}

:):):)

NOT sweet potatoes

{i spared you--you're welcome}

on the phone.
unloading dishes.
loading dishes.
so i could give chase a bath in the sink.
max playing with blocks in the front room.
brennan at preschool.
chase just fed in high chair.
strapped in.
cooing.
lovely, peaceful house.
i don't know how it caught my eye.
but it caught my eye.
sweet potatoes.
wait.
NOT SWEET POTATOES!
chase's hand in mouth.
NOT SWEET POTATOES!
tell sandie i have to get off the phone "right now."
click.
grab chase's hand out of his mouth.
smell his hand.
smell his mouth.
smell his hand again.
traces of "NOT sweet potatoes" possibly lingering.
maybe.
could not decipher if the smell was from the hand
OR mouth
OR both
OR from the NOT sweet potatoes smell he was sitting in.
sent max to get more wipes from the upstairs closet.
the entire way up i heard her repeating,
"uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh" in a happy carefree chant.
i, of course, took a picture to send to sandie.
and sean.
and linsey.
and natalie.
and once i cleaned everything up,
put the high chair cover in the washing machine,
wiped everything down three times,
and got chase in the sink for a bath,
i called natalie,
where she assured me "lots of babies eat their own poo,"
{she giggled a little bit too, which made me giggle, and confess of an incident with max two weeks ago}
"not to worry."
she said again.
then max and i got chase all dried off and lathered up in pink baby lotion,
into some clothes for the first time all day.
and started cleaning up blocks.
and then i saw it.
and smelled it.
a not so bad version of not sweet potatoes on max.
not from chase.
just max's turn.
and it had me laughing all over again.
and wishing i had waited to start the green button on my washing machine until after i had found what i found on max.
and this my friends is why every day is a laundry day in the gibson home.
and this is why i laugh,
take pictures,
and thank the good lord above for washing machines:)
THANK YOU for washing machines.
and sweet potatoes,
b/c at least we know chase is getting enough.
and in no need of suppositories any more.
besides,
i really have been meaning to wash the high chair cover.
WINNING!

how to draw spiderman

how to draw spiderman, in the words of brennan.

{my college art teacher would be so proud!}

1. a big head

2. two big eyes

3. a web covered face mask

4. two long legs

5. two feet

6. and spiderwebs on his body

--SO PROUD!--

a blooming artist.

now if we could just throw away those coloring books.

not good for creativity.

so my college art teacher would say.

{check out Pocahontas in the pics. she was "spiderman"
b/c the real spiderman was missing.
no need to fret.
he has since been found.} 

walmart looks like...

yep, i'm that lady

AND

yes, they're ALL mine:)

{on purpose!}

hello, my name is:

today is the first day of preschool.
brennan's second year.

i want to shout for joy and cry all at the same time.
the beginning of our last year of make believe adulthood.
next year with kindergarten begins real "i have a child in elementary school" life.
so we're going to enjoy every minute of arts and crafts,
field trips to pumpkin patches,
and sitting on santa's lap at christmas time this year.
and then be so glad that max will go to miss kim next fall.
b/c at least we'll still have more coming up in the ranks of make believe little kid land.
the preschool days i love so much.
4 years ago brennan was the same age as chase, plus a month.
i can't believe what 4 years has brought us.

if you cover up the tops of their heads with your index fingers,
the "twins" emerge in their faces.
with different eye color and skin complextion.
brennan was definitely more beefy.
i have to roll up the shorts to stay around chase's waist.
but this is why when people tell me he looks like max i say,
yeah...
except when he looks like brennan;)
max was screaming at us that they were all pictures of chase,
not brennan.
there was no convincing her otherwise.
i tried to reason with her.
it was funny.
pointing out brennan with his big brown eyes,
olive skin,
and dark hair.
she took off upstairs screeching in sing song-y tones,
"NO, ASE"!!!!!!!!!!
over and over again,
all offended like,
at high pitch levels only a girl can achieve.
sean and i just laughed.
and told her if she kept screaming all of the fairies would die.
brennan tried relentlessly to convince her as well.
he finally gave up saying,
"SHEESH!"
and went back to playing with his super heros in the end.
chase does have her skin complexion and eyes,
so i guess he just looks like them both.
i can't wait to see what he'll look like in 4 years when HE'S starting his second year of preschool.
with his piercing bright blue eyes.
and blonde eye lashes that give you a slow blink when he's trying to woo you.
boys are so good for the soul:)

sheets of white {a rain storm}

i really can't imagine a hurricane raining harder than this.

that's how hard it rained.

thick sheets of rain so thick that it looked as white as snow.

for a few moments when the wind blew in,

it felt as if the rain and wind would swoop up our house and carry us to Kansas all Dorthy like.

or guess she was swooped away FROM kansas.

whichever.

we stood there screaming on our porch in amazement.

waving at our neighbors across the street who had also come out for the show.

and then sean took off running.

the kids and i looked at each other,

laughed,

and took off behind him.

then we came back inside sopping wet.

freezing cold.

and brennan told us,

"we went out into the hot, and it was cold."

then we made hot chocolate.

the instant kind in the packet, 

with dried mini-marshmallows that crunch in your mouth if 

 they haven't been bathing long enough in the warm chocolaty milk.

whipped cream on top, of course.

i dipped a peanut butter cookie in mine that my neighbor had sent over with her husband earlier this afternoon.

{thank you home teachers, we love you.}

and then the sun came out, 

and we spent the rest of the night face-timing with grandma and grandpa ryan in california,

telling them about brennan's first day of preschool tomorrow,

halloween costumes,

t-ball games coming up this week,

acceptable t-ball snacks as it is my duty tomorrow,

and the large amounts of tomatoes we pick from our garden every day.

i also showed off my corn,

and my dad suggested we plow down one entire side of the yard for a larger crop next year.

he also called my corn "charlie brown corn,"

but i did not take offense.

it IS rather puny looking,

he is right about that,

BUT

it's the sweetest darn corn you'll ever taste.

they marveled at my pumpkins turning orange, 

and said we needed to move to california for a longer growing season.

i told them they should move to utah so we could bring them garden fresh tomatoes and sweet utah corn on sunday nights.

and then it was time to put all of the kids to bed,

so we blew kisses and said goodnight.

i just love our sunday nights:)