Pumpkin by Preston

This year Preston took the reins on the pumpkin carving and design... ok, he pretty much did everything! The boys had fun cleaning it out (I did a scoop or 2), then Preston drew out and cut out an awesome design. Any guesses?I absolutely love this photo!JoJo helping Daddy map out the design.Tada! Did you expect anything other than a Transformer theme? I think he did an awesome job!

Halloween Costumes

This is a video of the boys showing off their Castle Crashers Costumes

For those of you who do not know what/ who Castle Crashers are (most people don't)... it is an Xbox game that the boys love. Here is a photo of the toys, I love this photo I found of them attacking the bagel. Joseph is the grey on because he is a special Castle Crasher that Daddy unlocked for him. Thurston calls his "Coo Man" (cool man). It took us forever to figure out why he called him that, then Preston recalled saying once "That red guy is cool, huh?" So Thurston calls him cool man. :)

Here are them posing. We did touch ups on the helmets after these photos were taken, but they were so excited to try them on.

Aleah's Room

So I finished way ahead of schedule, but had a blast designing her room and putting it together. Preston refers to her as my doll, and this was her Doll House. :)This was my Great Nana Hammond's night table, it's had many identities, but I love this one the most. I found this lamp at Target for $17, and may just be my favorite.Back when I first found out I was pregnant, I got this crib off of craigslist and the lady threw the bedding in for free, I'm stoked I got to use it! I had fun painting these pictures as well.I made the curtains, Valance and pillow. The extend of my sewing abilities.I was choosing which picture to use, and had it narrowed down to 3, Joseph chose this one, because he said it was him giving her a kiss when she comes. :) In other news, we ended up buying a Kia Sedona Minivan. I would post a picture, but I didn't take one yet. Surprising, I love it! Esp having all the extra space and the boys just love it.

I Love Preston

That's all I have for today. I love my husband and am pretty sure that he's the perfect match for me. That, and I think we are buying a minivan. We are welcoming our 30's with style. More to come.....

Nap Time

Just thought I would share what happens when you pass out on the couch for a little nap next to a 3 year old with a lot of stickers. Hey, it kept him entertained, and I got a nice refreshing nap!

Happy 30th Birthday to Preston!

This last Sunday, Preston took a major step in life and turned 30. He was a good sport about it. Friday we had a party for him and Chi Ming (who also turned 30). We took advantage of the grill one last time, and Preston made some amazing Chicken. Just so you know, that was the side dish, the main dinner was something more fit for an old man... Tomato soup and Grilled cheese sandwiches. Preston even tried to grill the grilled cheese sandwiches... (I think he was just trying to take advantage of the coals.)

He didn't want a cake, so we made Dirt instead. I made tombstones out of Rice Krispie treats (his favorite), but they had a problem staying up. ha. Here are some photos.

In traditional Birthday fashion, we had a pinata.... it is located in the right hand corner of the above photo... yes, it is the 12 pack case of Mountain Dew and duct tape. It was filled with Butterscotch and peppermint candies ( in lue of his age...) and one kitkat. It was funny.

His actual Birthday was nice, it was Conference, so we stayed in our jammies all day (even when we went to a friends house for dinner...) He got breakfast in bed (which JoJo and Thurston ate 1/2 of) and he got his real birthday presents. His absolute favorite book growing up was Pickle Chiffon Pie by Jolly Roger Bradfield. It was out of print until a few years ago, and the other 2 he loved by the same author are still out of print. I spent more money than I would like to admit collecting these childrens books, but he was so excited. They really are great books and I just love the authors sense of humor. A new favorite memory I have now is all of us (yes, even the cat) snuggled in our jammies in our bed reading these 3 books. It was so sweet!

Fabulous Fall

We seem to have skipped early fall and have jumped into the final days of fall when you are freezing... or is it just me? Last Monday it was 90 degrees and I used my air conditioner. When I woke up on Thursday, I was freezing and had to turn on the heater. So much for the lax months where the heater and gas bill both are under $20. Such is life.

With the season change, I have embraced the cold weather and have started baking like crazy. This is where the pounds of pregnancy will start catching up to me! I made some fantastic Taco Soup yesterday, the prob with me is that I will throw things together but not write down what I did... so I actually paid attention yesterday to my process/ ingredients. I am writing this here more for me, but anyone who is wanting a hearty yummy dish, here you go:

* I may not have exact amounts of things, because I go more by taste

TACO SOUP

In large pot, ground 1 lb of ground beef, season as you would tacos

* you can use taco seasoning packets, but with my allergies I have to use another route... The Taco seasoning in the jumbo jar at Costco is MSG free and it is fantastic. I add this with some season salt and a titch of pepper. I season the meat really well here, because I HATE it when the meat is not seasoned.... just my preference!

Add 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, then fill with water and add to pot

1 15 oz can of black beans

1 15 oz can of kidney beans

1 2.25 oz can of sliced black olives

15 green olives sliced (why 15? because that is how many I had left in

the jar...add as many as you like...)

1/2 cup of frozen corn (add more if you are a fan... this is my tolerance

level of corn...)

From here I just let the ingredients mix and simmer a bit and let the flavors mix etc.. then went back about 1/2 hour later and added more taco seasoning and seasoned salt to taste. I like my stuff very flavorful, so do as you like. If you feel you want more water, I usually add water from the cans of ingredients so the water has some flavor. As for yield, thus far it has provided 4 children servings, 2 Hollie Servings and 2 **Preston servings (this may be equal to a small family size...) :) And still have some left. It is great frozen (not really, more it keeps well frozen and it is good when it is reheated). We usually put a bit of cheese on top and eat with tortilla chips.

Then I decided to do dessert. Lately when I make cookies, I freeze 1/2 the dough (this is more to control my consumption). We made some Pumpkin Spice Sugar cookies that I found here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Pumpkin-Spice-Sugar-Cookies-133186Preston really liked the recipe, but I think next time I will just use the trusted Nana Hammond sugar cookie recipe and add pumpkin spice to that. We originally ate them with a powdered sugar and milk glaze. Well, yesterday I decided to be daring. I used the rest of the dough and put it on my pizza pan and baked it like a giant cookie/ dessert pizza. I made a cream cheese frosting with cream cheese, sugar and almond favoring (I was out of vanilla) which was soooo yummy! I sauteed some apple slices in butter, cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg and then added to the top. Yeah, it was fantastic! See:

!

We ate well.

Now, for my final thingy.... You know how each spring you plant a seed, or buy a plant and plant that and look on happily as you watch it grow, and then come Fall, you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor? Well, what happens when you suck as a Gardner and you kill your Azalea plant? Don't be embarrassed, embrace what you have done and tell people you did it on purpose. Dead plants make fantastic haunted tree's for your Halloween decor. See:

That is all for today.

Happy Fall Everyone.