Daddy!

Whenever we pull up at our apartment, Austin begins shouting, "Daddy! Daddy!" He is so hopeful that Pete will be home. Unfortunately, this isn't usually the case, but without fail, when Pete does make his entrance at night, there are two very happy boys there to greet him. 

Crafts with Parker. 

 We went to Pete's work Halloween party on Friday night. It was fun... food, treats, dry ice, and cute kids in costumes. The boys always love going to his office.

Jeff and Marina's visit

Jeff and Marina were in town for the weekend. It was fun hanging out with them. The boys and I tried taking Marina to the zoo on Saturday afternoon, but the parking situation was so terrible that we opted to head back home and get a burrito:) The boys are very comfortable with them, so it was fun for them to have extra playmates. 

Wish we got to see them more, but it's so fun when we get to be together.

Pumpkin patch field trip

We went to the Pumpkin Patch with Parker's preschool class. There was a great turnout and fun to get to know some of the kids and moms better. First there was a pumpkin presentation, by a very old lady who seemed very irritated by the children in the audience. The eye rolling when she heard chatting in the crowd was a giveaway. 

Then we went on a hay ride. Bumpy and fun. Then through the corn maze... bad idea with a bunch of three year olds. Those kids are fast and the maze is not easy. We all made it out eventually, but wouldn't do it again with my bolter. Then they got to pick a pumpkin. Parker preferred sprinting through the fields, but I chose a nice round pumpkin for him:)

Oh yeah, and Austin was there too. I have pics of Parker at an Ann Arbor pumpkin patch in this sweater. Awe... memories. 

 Park and Sadie... never far form each other.

 And Jakey is a new addition to their duo. Breaking it down on top of the hay!

Wee Sing performance

One of my favorite childhood memories was going to sing at nursing homes. I would go and perform solos with my voice teacher, and also perform shows with the children's chorus I was in. It was so much fun to perform for the grandmas and grandpas who didn't care what we sounded like, they were just glad to see cute kids! Since starting Kids Sing, I have felt so blessed to be able to extend that same opportunity to these kids. The older kids just perform in December and May, but the Wee Sing preschoolers perform mid-way through our session as well. So last week Parker had his first "performance." It was Halloween themed music, so the kids wore their costumes. While you can't hear them very well, the people there LOVE to see these little ones in costume. After the performance, they walked around waving, high fiving, and hugging the residents. This was so good for Parker. He's quite the performer... I wonder where he gets that from?

Recent recipes...

So here are a few of the recipes that I had catalogued on Pinterest and actually tried:

Zucchini Crisps: These were good, but not obsessed with them. Wish they were crispier... wish they were fried... but not bad for a baked version.

Pork Burritos: Totally loved this recipe. Not a Cafe Rio copycat, but the flavor was great and definitely can be used in pork salad or burritos. I found this way easier than other Cafe Rio pork recipes I've done. Way less steps with the pork. I don't have a green enchilada sauce I LOVE so I'll be on the lookout for a recipe to make my own or try other brands.

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta: You can't go wrong with Pioneer Woman recipes, though they can be labor intensive or call for ingredients I don't keep on hand. But I must say this was somewhat easy, especially using jarred roasted red peppers. I doubled this since I was dirtying my blender anyway, and froze three bags of it. I really liked it, but preferred it as a side pasta with some breaded chicken, instead of doing it as a main dish. The sauce was very flavorful, but could be too much in a large bowl.

Chicken cordon bleu casserole: Could have posted this before, but oh well... it's good, it's easy, and it tastes the same as the real version that is so much more time intensive. I have used a rotisserie chicken from the store and I have also baked my own breasts in the oven. Both are great.

Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta: I liked it, Pete didn't love it so much. It was a good try for a meatless dinner but don't think I will make it again, since I'm the only one who was a fan.

Halloween at Sea World

I love decorations at Sea World for the various holidays. Christmas is my favorite, but Halloween is also very festive. The fishy-pumpkins... so cute!

 The boys actually approached the characters today. Progress! No hugs though, just high fives!

I love dressing the boys alike. They especially enjoyed "looking like daddy" that day.

The Pinterest Complex

Pinterest is an interesting, helpful, depressing, overwhelming, fabulous invention. What a great way to bookmark things that peak your interest and stumble upon sites and blogs that would otherwise be dead to you. Overall, I think it's a great thing. But as you see all the amazing things everyone else is making for dinner, or crafts for their exquisite home, or flawless hair-dos that can be done effortlessly in 5 minutes, you can also tend to beat yourself up. However, as long as you try not to compare yourself to others and don't get down about things you aren't doing, it's a great pool of stuff to draw from. I saw this funny illustration:

Haha. I also saw another one about spending so many hours pinning new recipes that you're too tired to make dinner. :)

Anyway, I often forget which pins I try and which ones I like or don't like. Because even though something claims to be "the best ________", it's not always true. So I plan to use the blog as a record of new recipes, crafts, kid stuff, etc...

I will leave you with one more funny cartoon... I just love these!

Priceless sentiments

Parker will often come home with his preschool bucket filled with his art made specifically for friends or family. He has made crafts for Dad, for me, for Sadie, for Sadie's mom, for Austin... it's so cute. 

 And sometimes we'll get some art from Sadie too:)

 Hello, Poindexter:)

Hilarious quotes recently...

The boys were watching the Michigan football game at my folks house (what a heartbreaker), and  a player got hurt. As the athletic trainers were crowded around the player on the ground, Parker commented, "Look they are tying his shoe."

Last night I took Parker out with me to make a return to the store, but I told him it was not a toy store and he would not get a treat. He said, "Okay mom. The don't have toys. What do they have have?" "Clothes." "Clothes.... do they have toilet paper?" "No toilet paper." "Hmmm... just clothes? That's interesting."

While playing with his buddy at the park, he was racing past Austin and then he slowed down and said to his friend, "Hey Carter... this is my brother Austin. Pet him.... he's so cute!"

Parker is constantly complimenting my clothes or accessories. "I like your beautiful necklace." "I like your tiger-ly shirt." "Your hair looks very nice today."

Austin can now great Pete with, "Hi dada! How you?" He is constantly saying he loves us and he wants to "hug _______". He's all about the sweet hugs. He's also into music class lately. He's such an active participate and loves to chime in and dance. We were doing a free dance song where the parents are supposed to mimic the dance moves of their child. Austin breaks into a down dog with one leg lifted in the air, so there we are doing yoga poses together. Hilarious.

Halloween costume decisions...

For weeks Parker has told me he wants to be a dragon for Halloween. A) I don't like buying Halloween costumes. They are pricey and I just don't like spending money on something they will wear so briefly.  B)Dragons are hard to find that are not totally scary, except for the baby bunting ones.    C)I always wait until it's "too late", aka actually October, to begin the costume hunt. 

Anyway, we went to Costco and was determined to convince him that he loved one of those costumes. There was an awesome fire fighter, but nope... he saw this knight costume and fell in love. He loved the shine, he loved the cape, and he LOVED the sword. Oh boy. There was no going back. 

 Austin thought it was cool too how he raced around the house "saving everyone". So I found him a beanie and a spatula so he could feel a part of the mission.

 I knew the giraffe costume would be a little big on my little peanut boy, so I tried the horse costume from last year on him (3-6 month size). It zipped up fine, but then I put the hood on and he couldn't straighten his neck. haha.

 I asked for Austin to take one more pick and he said "nnoooooooooooo!"

A giraffe it is.

Wrestle mania!

The boys miss their dad when he's at work. What kid wouldn't when they know they have this to look forward to...

 So hilarious! As soon as they hear the lock on the door start to jostle in the evening and they know that daddy is home they both scurry to the door and say "Hi dada! Want to wrestle?" Pete lays down a quilt for the "wrestling mat" (so there are some boundaries and not a complete free for all around the house), and they go to town. Sometimes they allow him to change his clothes, but most of the time he is still dressed up. This is precious time for these guys.

Halloween bash

Parker's friend Sadie is all about Halloween and given that her birthday is in October, her birth was perfectly timed to have a Halloween-themed bday party. It was so cute. Her mom did such a great job putting it all together. Simple and kid friendly. They originally had a Halloween bounce house, but Kate expressed some concern that it might scare some of the kids. She said there was a ghost on it, but she added "but the ghost is smiling." Then later she texted me a picture of the bounce house with a caption that said, "The ghost is not smiling." haha. She switched it for a Mickey Mouse jumpy and the kids loved it. 

Austin was a trooper in the giraffe costume. It was a little warm that day, but he insisted on keeping the hood on. He had mixed feelings about the bounce house. Initially he was all for it, but then it got too crazy and it was hard to retrieve him. 

 Mostly he was obsessed with a little baby sleeping in a stroller. He loves all babies.

 Parker of course was a maniac in the bounce house. My little silver knight... so glad he agreed to leave the sword at home!

 Love how all the kids wore their costumes. Made for such a festive looking party. Lots of princesses and superheroes.

 Whenever people as Austin, "What's your name?", his response is always, "Parker!" He won't even attempt to say Austin.

 One of the highlights of the party was a scavenger hunt leading to their goodie bags.

 Pumpkin decorating... 30 little pumpkins... the fruits of their labor.

Happy birthday to Sadie. Was a sweet, spunky girl she is. She is a great friend for Parker and I'm so thankful to have such a good friend in her mom as well. Makes for some fun play dates!

Perfect morning at the patch

We made a last minute trip to the pumpkin patch last week and it was awesome. It just rained the day before and was still on the cool side. The cloud cover made it feel a little like Ann Arbor (wishful thinking... oh how I miss AA fall)! Sadie was having a birthday party that weekend involving pumpkin decorating, so they needed to collect 30 small pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, and they kindly invited us along. Those kids were running wild through the field, looking for just the right size pumpkin. Can you imagine collecting 30 pumpkins and loading up a wheelbarrow? They were in heaven. Austin mostly liked the snacks Kate had, but he still thought it was cool too.

 We ended with a hay ride, that we joked that we specially chartered for Sadie's birthday, but really there was no one else at the patch:) Such a special day.

Cute...

Pete watches tv in this very same position... like father like son. 

 Austin loves to color. He is very serious about it.

Whenever Parker is writing and list making, he says he's doing research... no joke.

Sadie!

We adore Sadie. She has been Parker's best buddy since they were in the two-year old class last year and they are a riot together. Both love to be on the go, imaginative, and so sensitive toward each other. Today is Sadie's birthday! Happy birthday Sadie!

Lunch reunion

I thought I was going to lunch with my brother Jeff and my mom and my boys. Then as I was waiting out front I see a good family friend, Scott Ives, show up. Then my other brother and his girlfriend. Then my dad. Then Jeff and his co-workers. 11 people and a high chair later, we had a party. (I just sneezed and Austin said, "bless you mama!" be still my heart!). Anyway, it was a fun lunch and so good to see Jeff for an hour.