Busy Times!

I have been a slacker blogger lately! But I have been so busy that I haven’t had the time to blog. Plus the screen on my camera cracked at Halloween so I haven’t been up for much picture taking. But anyways, what have I been busy with?

My kids, first of all. I did a bunch of projects for Avery’s school fundraiser at the beginning of November and then last week I volunteered in her class a couple of times. It was pretty fun actually because there was snow outside and the kids got to go sledding both days. So cool.

The girls also recently moved their beds in the same room. It’s kind of funny looking because there’s a full sized bed for Avery and a short toddler bed for Camryn. But it works for now. There were a few misfires at first but I think we’ve finally gotten into a groove where they both enjoy the situation. The reason we combined them is because they were both getting pretty needy at bedtime and we figured rather than them calling for us they could keep each other company. And it works!

The big thing keeping me busy is our upcoming trip to Utah. My sister Ashley is getting married  so I’ve been working on her reception DVD and putting together a bridal shower. Plus all the regular wedding preparations - making sure everyone has the right shoes and haircuts and all that. Aren’t they a cute couple? 

Of course we’ll also be gone over Christmas too so I’ve got to get all my shopping/wrapping done before we leave. Busy busy!

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween this year. We carved pumpkins as a family:

 

Then we drove to my sister’s house in Iowa for the weekend. Avery and Camryn had a BLAST with their cousins Stephen, Emily, and baby Samuel. My parents even drove up from Houston to join in the fun! We went to Howell’s to look at pumpkins,

 

go on pony rides (well, Camryn was brave enough – Avery… not so much),

and feed the goats/get really distracted by all the rocks on the gravel road.

Then Aunt Britney put on a Halloween party for the kids.

Of course what is Halloween without the much anticipated trick-or-treating. Camryn was Jessie. Isn’t she so cute? The yarn braid turned out pretty good, but not perfect. Oh well, she didn’t even want to wear her hat once we got outside anyway. (“What’s a cow[girl] without [her] hat?!”)

Avery was a beautiful Snow White. Thanks to Grandma Smith for getting her this cute costume! She had so much fun trick-or-treating. Everyone else was done but Avery and Merrick both wanted more-more-more! So they kept going a little longer than the rest. :)

It was a fun, quick trip! It was nice to spend some time with my parents and my sister and her family. Oh so much better than Halloween night last year when we all were sick at home with the swine flu. :) Hope you had a good Halloween too!

Yum.

I haven’t blogged about food in a while, so I thought I’d let you in on some good recipes I’ve tried and loved lately. What are we eating at the Smith house?

Well, I’m still making pizza pretty much every Friday. This pizza sauce recipe from Our Best Bites is oh so good, super quick, and I use it every time I do a red sauce pizza.

This Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe from My Kitchen Cafe is making frequent appearances at our house too. It.is.awesome. Try it, you can’t not like it.

Merrick got me a panini maker for my birthday. I’ve been making those a lot. Our favorite kind (not pictured below) is turkey, provolone, pesto, and tomato. So, so good. Anyone else have a good panini recipe to share? We’re always looking for more ideas.

These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins are totally easy and so yummy. (Can you tell I like ourbestbites.com?)

Merrick occasionally watches Tommy Tang’s Easy Thai Cooking and he decided to try to make a curry recipe one time. I couldn’t find the recipe online but this is pretty much what we use for a Chicken or Pork Curry with Rice. We don’t use the chicken stock and Merrick chops up fresh ginger and a jalepeno pepper. It’s really yummy so we’ve made it 4-5 times. The best part? Merrick doing the cooking!

These Chicken Fajitas are the best I’ve ever had. Mmm… I’m getting hungry!

Ooh and another one from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe I recently tried with success: Pork Chops with Caramelized Apples and Onions. Very tasty and even though we don’t eat a ton of pork chops, these will be repeated.

And if you need a nice fall soup recipe, this is your ticket: Tortellini Sausage Soup. Made this for my MIL and it was a big hit. Makes your house smell divine and tastes just as good.

 

To finish with a dessert, try this Scrumptious Apple Pie by The Pioneer Woman. Oh wow this was delish! I made this for a party and it was very well received! Merrick, who doesn’t appreciate apple pie like I do, was hooked on this stuff. It’s like part apple crisp, part pie, plus the caramel and pecans on top… sigh. 

Did I make you hungry? I hope so. As you can tell, I get most of my recipes these days from food blogs. It’s fun to try new things and I love how you get so much more info and pictures that you do from cookbooks.

So, what recipes are you loving at your house?

I Can’t Resist…

… I have to show you what I’ve been working on, even though it’s not quite finished yet. I’m just a teensy bit proud of it. :) Here it is, Camryn’s Halloween costume – Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl (from Toy Story 2 and 3).

I used some old jeans, sewed on some cow print chaps, and added a strip of brown felt for the belt. (I’m still working on the belt buckle). Then I got a white long sleeve shirt and sewed on some yellow fabric and buttons then hot glued on some of this red rope.

I also have a red hat I found at the dollar store and I sewed some white yarn around the edges. I’m hot gluing red yarn in it for the hair, with a long red yarn braid coming off the back. It’s going to be fabulous.

And Jessie’s biggest fan is lovin’ it.

PS – Any cheap ideas for the white circle for the pull string on the back?

Picking Pumpkins

Today we decided to go pick out a few pumpkins. The girls had fun riding in the wagon and seeing all the different shapes and sizes.

They had all these cute places to take pictures, so we took advantage (especially since I’ve been slacking on my blog updates lately!).

 

Camryn wasn’t to happy with this one. Maybe it was those gnarly fingers poking out of the log to her right.

But one she saw the Pooh she was a happy camper again. :)

Beautiful fall days are nice, aren’t they?   

Discovery World and The Beach

Merrick’s mom was here last week and we did some fun stuff with her. One afternoon we went downtown and checked out Discovery World. It was our first time there and we had fun exploring.

 

We especially liked the Aquarium area, where you could walk on fish tanks or have the fish swimming above your head, etc. It was really cool.

   

Then we stopped over at Sil’s Drive-Thru for some hot fresh mini donuts. Totally yummy. After which we headed down to the cold lakefront to dip our toes in the water, get totally sandy building a sandcastle, and chase some seagulls.

Boy was it chilly. Well we had some fun with Grandma Smith and then I didn’t take any pictures of the rest of her stay. (On Friday we drove up to the Dells, stayed at Wilderness and enjoyed all the indoor waterparks there.)

Avery's First Day of School

Avery had her first day of 4K today. 4K is our 4-year old Kindergarten. She gets to ride the bus which will be super convenient and especially nice in the winter. Here are some pics we took of her with the rest of us before the bus came.

I love these two cuties. They were especially photogenic this morning, which I appreciated. :)

And here she is, getting on the big yellow bus and me, probably fixing my hair nervously. She just walked right on, sat in the front and waved out the window as they took my baby away!

I actually tried stalking the bus. But I lost track of where it went so I ended up sitting in the parking lots waitin for a long time and then was too chicken to get out of the car to watch her walk inside (I didn't want her to see me!) so it was kind of pointless. But at least it gave me some peace of mind. I didn't cry - didn't think I was going to but I was very nervous/anxious for her to come home.

She had a great day. She was excited to see me when she got off the bus 3 1/2 hours later but once we got inside she told me she had a good time and told me all about everything they did. Camryn was especially excited to see her sister, which was nice. It was a good day. Tomorrow we get to do it all over again!

Avery's Room

We recently acquired a full size bed for Avery's room so we got her some new bedding.

I repainted the "Avery" letters to match (they were lavender before) and the big masterpiece is this:

I painted it! I was pretty proud of my hard work, although it's far from perfect. I traced a picture I liked off the computer onto parchment paper, then rubbed it onto the canvas, then painted it. It turned out pretty good and Avery appreciated it. Mostly, it was just a fun thing for me to do and didn't require too much artistic imagination or anything. :)

Day Trip to Madison

On Saturday we took a day trip to our state's capitol, Madison, Wisconsin. It was only about an hour and 20 minute drive so not bad. We can't believe we haven't been there yet! It was so fun and very beautiful, situated right between two lakes, with so much great architecture and little specialty shops and restaurants to see. So first we went to "The square" around the Capitol for the Dane County Farmers Market. It's the largest producer-only farmers market in the nation and it wraps all the way around the Capitol building grounds. We got some yummy stuff and enjoyed running around on the lawn.
This is what I get for having Avery be my photographer:

Then we headed over to the Henry Vilas Zoo, Madison's free zoo about ten minutes away. It was pretty small but had some fun animals to look at and it being free, we didn't feel like we had to stay all day.

Of course the girls talked us into a Carousel ride.

By then we were wiped out from being in the sun all day so we headed back home. It was a fun little trip that we'll definitely be doing again someday.