Birthday Recap

These first two pictures don't have anything to do with a birthday

 Blake shot a coyote and was so proud

Halloween was a big hit this year. Brooke was so exicted to trick or treat. We went around our neighborhood for 2 hours. Finally Brooke said she was tired and wanted to go home.

Two days later it was Blake's birthday. He was spoiled and had 2 parties. One was with his parents at their house:

 Mr. P got his first taste of cake

Then on his actual birthday, we had a party at our house. Usually I buy birthday cakes, because although I consider myself a decent cook, I am not a cake decorater. This year, I tried my hand at a homemade old fashioned chocolate layer cake. The taste was delicious, but I should have stopped with the oreo cookie crumbles on top.

 What do you think, do I have a future at a bakery?

 They didn't seem to mind what it looked like, though.

Happy Birthday my handsome husband!

Have a "Sweet" Halloween!

Last Tuesday, Blake's work had a Halloween party. Brooke was a cupcake again (it still fit, so why not?), and luckily Brooke is not opinionated (yet) about what she dresses up as.

Mr. Porter was a tootsie roll, a costume I borrowed from my friend Jackie. Isn't he the cutest?

Then, my other friend Andrea gave me this cute dinosaur costume, too. I couldn't decided between the two costumes so at another Halloween Party, Porter was able to wear it.

I had to add this picture because I love that Porter is chewing on the pumpkin

Dinosaurs say, "ROAR!"

 A grocery store had a Halloween party on Saturday that we went to. I usually shy away from taking the kids to community events like this because I hate crowds. Seriously hate them. The party started at 10, so we showed up at 9:30 and had the whole place to ourselves. We left at 10:08 right when things started to get crowded. Perfect.

there was bowling, two bean-bag tosses, a ring toss, and pumpkin egg nog sampling

Cupcake decorating

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

When Good Intentions Go Awry

Last Monday for Family Home Evening I got this great idea that I was going to make caramel apples and take them around to our neighbors. Nice, right? I was even more proud of my great idea because I thought Brooke and I could work on this together since we have been talking about the letter A, and this went right along with it. Furthermore, I found a supposedly "perfect" homemade caramel recipe on pinterest and was excited to try it out. Little did I know how the day would end.

The caramel recipe was not what it seemed. The description said "smooth and creamy" it was more like sticky and hard as a rock. It dried like a hard candy shell that broke like glass. I tried adding some half and half to thin it out and wanted to test the flavor. So what do I do to a BOILING pot of caramel? I stick my finger in it, thinking I will just lick it off. The caramel MELTED to my finger and burned the crap out of it. It hurt SOOOOO bad. But while I am trying to nurse my burned figer, which feels like it is on fire, I still have a pot of caramel on the stove that I am trying not to burn. I finally get the caramel on the apples and in the fridge and can nurse my poor finger for a few minutes.

When I got the apples out and try to peel them off the sheet of wax paper, the wax paper is stuck to the bottom of the apples. Great. Now I get to use a pair of scissors to cut the wax paper and a knife to chop off the bottom layer of caramel. While cleaning the caramel covered scissors, I proceed to SLICE open my thumb on the other hand. Also, using hot water is excruciating on my burned figer.

I won't even go into details how the chocolate wouldn't melt, then came out in blobs while I was trying to dip and decorate the apples. I got chocolate all over one my favorite white shirts. grrr...

Then, while delivering them, Porter was screaming in the car, it was pouring rain, Blake was in a bad mood, and I gave an apple to one of my good friends whose son is allergic to nuts. Oops.

Our Family Home Evening lesson to Brooke was this: We serve others because we love them. Serving makes them happy and us feel happy too. And now that the GIANT burn blister on my finger is healing and the slice on my thumb is healing, I can enjoy that happiness :)

Fall Family Photos

 Earlier this month my friend Jackie graciously agreed to take some family photos for us, at our favorite family spot: the pond. Jackie was fighting with her camera who decided it was going to be finnicky that night, trying to get a toddler and baby to smile and look a the camera at the same time, and the setting sun. She was able to get some great shots and we are super happy with how they turned out. Thanks, Jackie!

I love this one of Blake and I

Fall Favorite

Going the corn maze/pumpkin patch is one our favorite family traditions. In fact, it doesn't feel like fall until we've been. We didn't get to go last year and I was so sad. I made sure it was at the top of our "to do" list over fall break. This place is a top attraction in our neck of the woods since it's the only place like this around. We had to drive almost an hour to get here and we never leave disapointed. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beautiful day and minimal crowds.

Brooke feeding the goats:

 Gotta take some pictures on the haystack:

 At the opening of the kid's hay maze. Blake and Brooke had fun playing hide and seek in there.

 Brooke loved playing in the corn kernals, but didn't really like being burried :)

 The tube slide out of the kid hay maze is always a lot of fun. I even went down it a couple of times with Porter on my lap.

 Pumpkin cannon launcher

 Pumpkin patch time!

 The wagon ride back to the farm with our pumpkins.  Blake said, "I think I'm pictured out"

bye-bye pumpkin farm--see you next year!