Lord of the Rings Week--July 2012

Lord of the Rings Week

Like the Hobbits we are, we holed ourselves up at home and gorged ourselves in a week-long family-fest. My beautiful niece, Sarah, was here to help us kick off the week and improve the overall aesthetic value of our photos.
For any of the recipes, go to our Recipe Blog HERE.

Tie-Dyed Eye of Sauron Shirts

(I won't post directions here, but if you want me to give you the instructions we figured out, please e-mail me at devegnees@byui.edu.)

Out Darn Spot!
I had eight pairs of gloves, thinking that this would be plenty until Marie insisted on wearing some (looking like Minnie Mouse in the process--see photo #1). I sacrificed my clean hands (but hopefully not my pure heart) and let her have mine, thinking that it wouldn't really matter if my hands got inky since they seem to be perpetually covered in the ingredients of whatever project I'm working on anyway.

As we were outside dying the shirts, we noticed all of our neighbors walking to the Church across the street. I wondered what they were up to until I remembered that the Bishop's daughter's wedding reception was that night. I looked down at my hands and discovered a distinct rainbow of vivid color that wouldn't come off after five frantic minutes of soapy scrubbing. You can imagine the smiling looks of horror on the faces of the white-clad bride and her family as I hugged them!

Crafty Conjunctivitis
Holden was hoping to create a bold, manly red, white and black shirt. When we had the big reveal of our shirts after letting them sit for 24 hours, his face went the same rosy shade as his shirt when he saw how it had turned out. We all assured him that pink really is a masculine color. The kids dubbed his creation the "Pink Eye of Sauron."

Stenciled T-shirts
(I've posted detailed directions on our Harry Potter Week post from last year if you'd like to do your own. They are addictively fun and astonishingly easy!)

We even got some of our little Sargeant-y friends involved in the celebration!

Making Shields for The Battle at Helm's Deep

The Battle at Helm's Deep
While the battle raged, Eric and I snuck in the house and fetched a secret stash of water balloons and a water balloon launcher we had acquired for the occasion. We even had a hidden video camera to capture the kids' reaction. They were perplexed at first, but then started shouting, "Hit me! Hit me!" and trying to place themselves in each balloon's trajectory.

If you watch the video, you'll notice Marie getting dumped on by a shower of water and subsequently screaming for the duration of the clip. The balloon launcher also sent Charlie into a squawling frenzy, so the end of the clip is peppered with high-pitched wails. It was a battle, though, so I suppose the sounds are fitting.

Lord of the Rings FOOD!
We are Hobbity in lots of ways, but especially in our propensity to adore culinary quality. . . several times a day. If I even mention the memory of some of these Middle-Earth Meals, the kids sigh and their eyes sort of roll back in their heads. Wow. We are such foodies!

For any of the recipes, please go to our our Recipe Blog HERE

Shelob Spider Cookies

Smaug Cake

Mount Doom Burgers and One Onion Ring to Rule Them All
(Eve and Marie are here and when they saw the photo, they both uttered loud, contented, hungry sighs. These were everyone's FAVORITE! If you haven't tried a variation on the Jucy Lucy hamburger, you've been missing out! If you're only going to try one of these recipes, try this one!)

Orc Tenderloin with Roasted Po-TAY-toes
(This is one of our favorite Sunday dinners. The cream sauce is amazing and just thinking about it is making my stomach gurgle like the lava on Mount Doom)

Samwise's Strawberry Tarts

Fried Precious Golden Rings (aka Doughnuts)