Montoya Kids' Annual Pumpkin Pie Party!

One of my fond childhood memories was gathering with my cousins at Thanksgiving time and baking pumpkin pies with my Aunt every year. As we grew older, this turned into a little competition between the cousins as to who would turn out the best pie of the year. Now, in grown-up land, the tradition continues... Only now, I am the Aunt!

Here's how things went down at my house on Wednesday.

Some of the girls armed and ready.

The boys

prepare

to smack down.

Some action shots

require no words.

Don't mess with the older kids station.

There is some serious baking going on here.

The proud bakers head off for a little R&R while the pies hit the oven.

The End Product

The Coveted Trophy

Funny back story about the trophy:
It was intended to read "Master Pie Chef of the Year".
As I left the trophy shop with the trophy in the bag a couple of years ago, it never occurred to me to double check the spelling. (Perhaps it was presumptuous of me to operate under the assumption that certain skillsets accompany those who operate engraving devices.)
We could have made due with a "Master Pie Chief" were it not for that darned
"i before e except after c" rule.
I am sure the trophy shop crew would be more than happy to correct the problem if I bothered to take the trophy back to the shop (especially since they marked the bottom with their business information - forever giving credit where credit is due), but now we are all attached to it just the way it is.
It makes us laugh.


And the winner is...Bella!





2008 Montoya Family Master Pie Cheif

Last year's winner respectfully congratulates this year's Master.

The Epilogue:

Hostess with the Mostest

(Yeah, mostest dishes.)
Admit it, you're jealous.

B - Boys!

Shoot! When we do birthdays in this family, we do birthdays!

Joey and Isaac AND Gramps all had their birthdays in a two week time frame, so we decided to have a boys' birthday bash.

Three boys. Three cakes. Lots of fun!

Gramps gets the "aged to perfection" award for turning 89!

Joey comes in second place at age 11. I simply can't wrap my mind around the fact that I have an eleven year old son... especially since I am only 23.

Isaac is trying to get rid of his "baby" rap by turning two. TWO. This is also mind boggling since I just had him yesterday.

You might think that this takes care of our birthday boys for the year, but you would be wrong about that. Paul turns 40, the BIG 4-0 tomorrow, and if you thought THIS was a party...well... you just WAIT!

We Didn't Go Rollerskating...

If I tell my kids we are going to do something, then barring divine intervention, we are going to do it. When I told my kids I'd take them rollerskating the last day of fall break, they had every reason to believe me. I believed me. I had every intention of following through...until... well, I had a better idea...

Because I just can't resist a few unnecessary moments of wailing and gnashing of teeth I broke the bad news first: "I'm afraid we have a little change of plans today, and there is no possible way I will be able to take you rollerskating..."

The wailing and gnashing and body thrashing began.

Then the good news:

"...Your dad and I thought we might enjoy a weekend at Disneyland instead, and I just don't see any way we could make it back in time to skate today if we leave this morning."

Strangely, the wailing continued a moment longer than expected while the information reached the place in the brain capable of stopping all the funny business. (I second guessed my decision to play this unfriendly joke on my children.) Eventually, there were cheers in the house, and I was forgiven for renigging on the skating trip.

We had a fabulous weekend!

A couple of my favorite moments:

Isaac enjoyed the carousel. He really enjoyed the carousel.

We almost brought the carousel home with us.

Isaac spotted Buzz Lightyear walking by.

He was determined to follow Buzz.

Paul and the big kids were riding Space Mountain so Christiana, Isaac and I got in line for a photo op with our favorite space ranger. When we got to the front of the line Isaac realized the the "real" Buzz was significantly HUGER than he anticipated, and he took off running... so Christiana smiled quickly and we decided a blurry picture was just fine.

A couple of my favorite characters:

The cheeky Cheshire Cat



Jack Skellington

I don't know why, I just like him.




More fun:

The best view of the parade...

We'll just have to go skating another day.