Monday, October 31, 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pumpkin Spice Waffles for Breakfast....
(My sad attempt to make a jackolantern out of them 
the kids didn't care they weren't perfect
I had em at waffles and chocolate chips.)
 For 13 years I have dodged the bullet 
on having to do 
major face painting...
(Thank you Billie for thinking enough to grab the camera and get some progress shots!)
 Pretty Tabby Cat
 Stealthy Ninja
Zombie Skateboarder
(aka candy passer outer)
 
2011 Halloween

We had a terrific night.  We have such a fun active neighborhood.
And I guess now that Halloween is over, 
winter can officially start!  


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Happy Anniversary COLORADO

On October 23rd. 2010 we said good bye to Arizona early in the morning.
We pulled into our new home @ 12:30 am
(I guess traveling with 2 vehicles, 3 kids and 2 dogs is slow going.)

On October 26th, 2010 our things arrived a Bekins moving truck.
They removed all the doors on the house 
and for a good part of the day, brought all our things in. 
The weather that day was in the high 40's and the house was chilled.
Nothing like October 26th, 2011
Where we woke up to this:
 Good thing we blew out the sprinklers,
Dug out the snow shovels
and put the ice scrapers in the vehicles.
 It continued the whole day....
 But it's okay.
Cause this is why we moved here. 
And I am ready...set...go!  

Halloween-ish house

Last year, at Halloween, we were still surrounded in box after box.
(Wow!  Does time fly.  I can't believe we have been Coloradans for 1 year now.)
This year I determined to be decorated by the middle of October. 
(It helped I was hosting the neighborhood Halloween Bunco party on the 15th)
 I love my fireplace....
It is really hard to decorate though 
because it is massive
because it is a 2 story room, it goes all the way up!
 One of my obsessions this season is 3D letters. 
 I made these fall letters
out of old shoe boxes and cereal boxes.
(Now I want a whole 3D alphabet wall, watch for XYZ to come first.)
 These are my take on a Pinterest find.  
It took 1/8 of a yard of stripe fabric, and some black scrap fabric.
I sewed little magnets into the the top 
so we can rip em down when we need/want the fireplace on.

And the pumpkins in the tub...
in 2009 I had a great idea to have the kids write what they were thankful for.
We then embroidered them into the stripes. (Grant and Billie did their own sewing
and I helped James do his.)
I wanted a little keepsake of their handwriting and their thankfulness.
(This will probably be the last time with THIS particular tradition. It was time consuming)

 I used up the leftover strips from the thankful pumpkins to make a runner for my end tables.
I love stripes.
 18 foot ghosts...
 Ginormo Jack o lantern...
one of my favorite decorations EVER...
Even though Bill hates storing and moving it. 
 Replaced all the picture frames with Halloween pictures past. 
I am embarrassed that I have
NOT ONE
Picture of halloween last year.  Grrrr. 
I know this is the bathroom, but this is one of my favorite views.  
Or maybe because I have a Apple Cider Warmer in here, so it always smells like fall. 

Quiet Moments


 James was having a friend sleep over last weekend.  
The scheduled time was 4:00pm.  At 3:55 James started watching patiently.
(he only asked me every 5 minutes what time it was, that's pretty patient for a 9 year old.)

Then Grant joined in the wait for a little while.  
I love that my boys can be 13 and 9
and still be friends
and still have lots to talk about.  

Sunday, October 9, 2011

First Snow of the Season

We woke up to rain yesterday
which quickly turned into
SNOW! 


 I am sure we were the 
ONLY 
excited family on the block.


The boys took a quick trip up to
Cheyenne to watch uncle Mikey
coach a football game.
It snowed the whole way to Wyoming
and continued the whole day.
There was only a slight delay in the game 
for the Thunder and Lightening 
to pass. 
Who knew it could snow AND thunder and lightening. 


Billie and I held down the fort here.
We heated up the house by making a batch of
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
and a big crock pot of chili.

Today:
The snow is gone and the sun is shining.  

Monday, October 3, 2011

Favorite Fall Recipe

I love fall
I love the leaves changing
I love the cool night air
I love everything that screams fall
like pumpkin spice lattes
pumpkin scones
pumpkin bread
soup simmering on the stove
rolls baking in the oven
Cozy evenings spent near the fireplace

and Amazing Spiced Chai Concentrate:
I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen and I <3 it!  
It is such a good base recipe but completely customizable.
You can use black tea, white tea, herbal tea (honeybush tea is delish in this recipe)
I made a fresh batch this morning 
and we didn't have any oranges in the fridge so I left the zest out.
Still amazing.