trick or treat!

Buzz, Woody and Jessie wish you a Happy Halloween!

pumpkin party

We had our friends over to eat and carve some pumpkins (uh hem, have the daddies carve some pumpkins). It's always fun having a houseful. Thanks everybody for partying with us! And, thanks Katie for being so on top of the picture-taking. :)

And because this just makes me laugh...

crescent roll apples

Wanted to share this yummy recipe I made tonight. I hardly ever make dessert... just ask my kids. If they actually eat their dinner and earn dessert, it quite possibly could be fruit snacks or marshmallows.

I love the simplicity of these apples. I guess I love the taste even more. :)

It could definitely be paired with some ice cream. Oh yes, definitely.

Crescent Roll Apples

Serves 8

1 8 oz. can crescent rolls
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and quartered
1 6 oz. can frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed

*Unroll crescent roll dough, and separate into triangles. Spread butter evenly over dough. Stir together sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over butter. (I just used the cinnamon sugar mixture from the store.)

*Wrap each apple quarter in 1 crescent roll dough triangle and place in a lightly greased 13x9 baking dish.

*Pour apple juice concentrate evenly over rolls.

*Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. (I cooked for 30 minutes and covered with foil for the rest of the baking time because the tops were already golden.)

pumpkin patch

good news and the not-so-good news

Let's start with the good news, shall we?

I had Hayes' parent-teacher conference this morning. It's always fun to hear someone say your boy is as neat as you think he is. :) He is doing really well and is learning so much. Up until recently, he has pretty much resisted every attempt I have made to get him to color, draw or learn. Now, it's like a switch has been flipped... he is always wanting to draw and he is eager to teach me the things he learns in school.

We were at lunch a couple weeks ago and he was drawing on the place mat. I looked over and he was writing all of his colors! I knew he could spell these words in a song that he sings, but write them down? So cool. It's truly a joy watching this little guy learn to read and write right before my eyes.

And now for the not-so-good news...

Embry's skin testing with the allergist didn't go as I had hoped yesterday. No, more like didn't go as I had prayed and trusted God for it to go. I felt good going into it, knowing that I had handed this over to God and trusted that there would be healing, or at least progress in his resistance to his food allergies.

But once the little spots on his arms started to swell up and I began hearing things like, "Okay, I'm stopping the test (half-way into it) because of the significance of his reaction." and "Honestly, I haven't seen a peanut reaction of this size in a long time," the doubt began to creep in.

I have to be honest about being disappointed. I was really expecting good results. But even though I am the mommy and believe I know what is best for my baby, God's the one with the ultimate plan. And I will keeping trusting that there will be healing in that plan... not in my time, but his.

thirty three

masterpiece

This is how our mantle looked for over a year. Lonely and in need of a friend. I just couldn't commit to anything... the things I did like weren't exactly in the budget. So I decided that Hayes and I would make our own masterpiece. :)

I bought a canvas and some paint at Hobby Lobby (when the art supplies were on sale, of course) and we went to work. Hayes did most of it. I just tried to clean it up a bit.

We shall call it "Transportation."

So there you go... an inexpensive way to create with your kids and bring a little fun to your decor. And when you're ready for a change, you aren't out a huge amount of money. Just grab a new canvas and an eager little artist and create another one.

just like daddy

"I've got my scratches on, just like Daddy."

watering flowers

weekend away

Whew! What a weekend!

Thanks to some wonderful grandparent shuffling, I was able to tag along with Kyle to Dallas on Thursday. He went to a dinner and attended a lab where he was able to do all kinds of procedures on a pig. I got to spend the evening in the hotel room with a glass of wine and a book (Amanda, I finally started "The Lovely Bones"). I also got some Allen outlet shopping in... can you really NOT shop there when in Dallas? :)

On our way back, we drove by a couple old places we used to live. This being the place we lived before we bought our first house. Oh yes we did. What can I say? The $400 monthly rent lured us in, but the SWAT team invading the next door neighbor for a meth lab drove us out. Good times.

We had fun staying with Auntie this weekend on OKC. It was such a great weekend to hang out, hit Pop's and go to a family wedding. While at the wedding, the kids tore it up on the dance floor and I about had a heart attack when Embry handed me a chunk of the groom's cake and said, "Sorry Mom." Luckily, it was fondant and I was able to quickly piece it back together where it looked as good as new. I think.

Thanks Auntie and Benny Boo for letting us invade your sweet little apartment. Hopefully, you won't get kicked out for all of the racket your niece and nephews made. Love you!

As we headed out on Sunday, we met Grandpa and Nana for lunch. Hayes had his first order of ribs. Daddy was so proud. :)