First Presidential Election Debate

Obama was flat, failed to prepare(?), and foggy-sounding.
Romney was policy-centered, prepared, and polished-sounding.
Glad we could watch as a family. Maybe politics is not a lost cause.

Dressing Up at College

Meggar has lots of stuff for costumes and parties. Here's a picture from a recent party --'80s Skate Date. Lois and Jessica are AGDs also dating Phi Kapps.

Scouts Prepare for Eagle Projects

The twins have been working a little bit every day for the past week on their upcoming Eagle Scout Service projects. They mailed out 50 fundraising letters and have already received several back. They run to the mailbox every afternoon to check for new donations! 

Polar Bear already called Dig Rite and met with the men doing the dirt work for the playground space. He ordered 10 scoops of wood chips for Saturday.

Winger cleaned and measured the lumber, and








Captain cut it for the play set. He also made copies of the building instructions and inventoried all the screws, swings, and accessories.

Yesterday, some other Scouts came  over to help stain all the boards. Nice color.

Flying Home

There's I-35 to Des Moines...

or there's the airplane to get a straight shot home!

Hockey Players Doing Well

Winger #12 is an animal on the ice--going his hardest to get to the puck first, leaning in to win face-offs, and making good playmaker passes.

Polar Bear #9 is dishing out his snarky comments, getting in the heads of opponents, and making goals like a sniper. The speed is faster than last year, so we are pleased with the competition. The schedule is one of the toughest of any other ranked team (playing almost entirely against Top 25 teams). Our Russell Stover '98 team is starting with a rank of #17 in their age group. This weekend, they beat the #23 team three times (Team Wisconsin). Over in St. Louis, they lost to the #6 and #15 teams, but also beat the #11 team. Winger has to play center on the second line (which doesn't score as often) but also is the defender on power plays. Polar Bear is second leader scorer and loves being on the first line. I wish they were together...

A True Hockey Sister

A true hockey sister comes before the face off and brings a heavy jacket to wear (despite the 79' F temp outside). Meggar even brought a blanket! and she brought Spencer to watch, too. What a fun day: two wins, soup at Panera, shopping, Buffalo Wild Wings, and laughs at old photos. We might have teased her a bit too much, but we were all very pleased that she made the long drive to Des Moines today.

Kitchen Endeavors

Meggar asked for my famous Curried Butternut Squash Soup, plus Dorito had a friend coming over for lunch. So I made a big batch in my "new" tall stockpot with my "new" hand-held blender (thanks to Angela's garage sale).
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
3 c. chicken broth
1 lb. butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 T. butter
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1 T. curry powder
1 t. rosemary, fresh, chopped
1 T. flour
1/2 c. half-and-half
salt and pepper
Boil chicken broth, and add squash to simmer until tender (about 15 minutes). Meanwhile, sauté onions in butter. Add spices and flour and warm thoroughly. Add to soup pot. Cook until thickened. Use hand blender to purée or blend small batches of soup in food processor (caution needed with hot soup). Return to pot and reheat. Add half-and -half and salt and pepper to taste. Freezes well for your favorite college student.