Pumpkin Craving

Mark got in late Thursday night and we are all pretty excited.  Luckily, our friends took really good care of us ladies this week while he was gone.  Jackie watched the kiddos for me on Tuesday so I could go to guitar lesson and had dinner for me when I picked them up!  Brandon watched the girls so we could go to book club on Wednesday and Maria invited me to sleep over.  Then last night, she had us over for dinner.  We missed Mark like crazy, but it wasn't super overwhelming since we kept pretty busy while he was gone. 

On Friday evening, we were invited over to some new friends' house for dinner.  I'm usually a wreck hanging out with people I don't know very well (the joys of introversion), but the family was super sweet and it went very well.  My favorite part about the evening was that they served homemade waffles with every topping imaginable.  It's their Friday night family tradition.  I'm seriously thinking of adopting that one for our family.  They were delicious! 

Yesterday, we headed to Gatlinburg for the day with the Nudds.  It was so much fun.  I hadn't been there since I was little, so it was all pretty new to me.  It is peak season there right now, so it was nuts!  We waited in traffic for what seemed like hours, but the times we spent out of the car were great.  The views were incredible.  In the afternoon, we went to the aquarium and that evening we ran into a few stores at the outlet mall.  We were all EXHAUSTED by the time we got home, but it was so worth it.  I'm looking forward to our next Gatlinburg trip!  I took over 350 pictures while we were there, so I will try and post some of those later.    

I'm kind of freaking out because we are getting family pictures done today.  Putting our outfits together has been up there with inventing the wheel.  It's been tough to say the least.  I wanted us to coordinate but not be too matchy-matchy.  There's a good chance I've failed us.  I think I've put a lot of importance on this photo session, because we haven't had a family photo since McKinley was born.  Of course, I woke up yesterday with a huge zit on my forehead and Kiki fell in her crib on Friday and has a big gash above her eye.  Thank goodness for photoshop!  

Thought I would show you the lunch I made for the girls on Friday.  I went with a fall theme.  I saw my old pumpkin cookie cutters in the drawer and got inspired.  It's really fun to think outside the box and try and be creative with the food I have in the fridge/pantry.    

Cheddar cheese pumpkins, peanut butter and jelly roll-ups, carrot slices with ranch dressing, steamed green beans, veggie chicken nuggets, veggie straws, cheese flowers

While we are on the subject of pumpkin, I've decided that I only want to eat pumpkin foods for the next few days.  They all just seem so yummy right now.  Pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin ice cream...bring on the pumpkin!  I think I'm going to make pumpkin crunch cake tonight.  Yum!   

I'm Parched

I was woken up this morning to the sweet smell of belgian waffles being cooked.  I love it when Mark is home!  He really spoils me.  It's kind of a joke around here, though, that Mark seems to make really dry pancakes and waffles.  I never want to hurt his feelings, because it is so thoughtful of him to make them, so I never say anything.  One time, however, I had to pour a little water on my pancake to get it down!  He always realizes it after he samples his handiwork, so he's not in denial or anything.

Today, they were very good, but they were a tad on the drier side.  I was still really enjoying them, though.  He bit into his and mentioned that they were dry.  He was troubled by the fact that he can't seem to make them not dry.  I told him I didn't get it, because I didn't see how, that if he follows the directions to the tee, that they would be dry.  That's when he looked at me a little nervous-like.  I said, "You did follow the recipe, right?"  Again, that look.  "Well, I kind of guesstimated the amount of flour, then I had to add more water, than I added more flour."  I DIED laughing.  That's why they are dry!  He just throws things in--no rhyme or reason.  That's a man for ya.  Can't follow a "map" for anything.

We've had a great day.  Errands, cleaning laundry and naps, and then in the afternoon the Nudd's came over for a barbeque.  The kids played in a few little kiddie pools we set up while the adults worked on the food.  We had grillers, corn on the cob, potato packets, chips and Brandon made the best salad/salsa.  It had grilled corn, green onions and jalapenos in it...so yummy!  For dessert, Maria made a pineapple and cherry cake that was the perfect ending to the meal.  It was a lovely afternoon and I really wish I had taken some pictures. A storm blew in right as we were finishing up, so our timing was great.

While we were outside enjoying the weather, I was able to pick my first batch of blueberries!  They were actually very yummy.  I can't wait to start putting them in recipes.

Tonight, Mark and I are watching the Bachelorette/NBA Conference Finals while I work on a craft project for Rosie's room.  I've been meaning to do this project for months.  Am I the only mom with girls that feels like their hair bow collection is out of control?!!  Ours is nuts.  I have a whole cabinet dedicated to housing all of their hair accessories and I wanted to be a little more organized.  This project is my first step towards that.  It really requires one big frame, but I decided to work with what I had and used two old frames I had on hand.

To start with, I painted both of the frames with green paint.

Next, I covered the glass from both of the frames with fabric I had on hand.  I wrapped it like a gift and used strong tape to secure.  I added two pieces of ribbon for each frame and secured them to the back with tape.  I then put everything back in the frame and secured it with the frame back.  Easy and pretty cute.

 Here's the finished product.  Just add bows!

Now that it's done, I really wish I had one big frame, but I really didn't want to spend any money, and this will work for now.  This project literally took me just a few minutes and I would recommend it to anyone feeling overwhelmed by a plethora of bows!  Let me know if you end up making it!