Happy Halloween!

This past weekend we went to the local pumpkin patch to pick out a few pumpkins. I had bought two randomly at the grocery store about a week or two ago, but we've never taken AJ to a pumpkin patch, so I really wanted to go. Lucky for us, we waited until it was 42* and drizzling to go. At least it wasn't crowded!

We were in and out of there pretty quickly, even though I'm pretty sure that AJ would have liked to stay all day. We could have stayed longer, but someone (ahem *hubby* cough, cough) didn't dress warmly enough. As it was, we let AJ pick out a few pumpkins and then we headed home. She literally was running around yelling, "PUMPKIN!"

I did manage to take one picture, though.


AJ checking out some pumpkins. No, this is not one of the ones we got.

We got our pumpkins Saturday morning and then I forgot about them waited until after AJ went to bed that night to carve them. She's not really at the right age for activities involving knives, and I didn't feel like scraping pumpkin guts off my kitchen floors and cabinets until Christmastime.

In the end, they turned out nice!



Mine is on the right in the top two pictures and the left on the bottom one.

Our pumpkins sitting in from of our house. Apparently its SUPER dark where we live. Ha!

I've been looking forward to taking AJ trick-or-treating all week and of course now she has a terrible cough, runny nose and is not feeling well at all. I'm probably going to try to get her in to see the doctor tomorrow, so trick-or-treating may have to wait until next year. : (

We will, however, be celebrating Halloween with the only dinner I've ever eaten on this spook-tacular holiday, "Beanie Halloweenie!" The recipe is simple (most likely my mom* created it because it was easy to cook when we were out trick-or-treating as kids).

Beanie Halloweenie**

1 family-sized can baked beans
1 package hot dogs

Place all ingredients*** into a square glass baking dish. Bake 30-ish minutes or until liquid is bubbly.

*Please note that this is a super trashy recipe and my mom will not be pleased that I shared this with you.

**Also note that its freakin' delish!

***I always add a squirt of mustard and ketchup, plus a generous tablespoon (or three) of brown sugar to my baked beans.

Cool Video

Well, I think its safe to say that I'm back to blogging, at least sporadically. Like I said yesterday, I can't promise that I'm back for good, or that I'll blog everyday, but I have found a few things lately that I've felt like blogging about, so I'm going to!

This post will likely be short, but I just wanted to share a really sweet video that my dad emailed me.



I'm not sure if that video works, but if not, then just click on this link:

Silent Monks Singing Hallelujah

Enjoy!

Some Updates

I'm not sure that I'm back, but I have been feeling like I should write about the things that are happening around these parts, so I'm heeding the call. I don't even know that I'll publish most of the stuff I write, but I figure I'll see where the spirit moves me.


D was in a 6-month-long school that ended and he was home for about 2 weeks before starting his next phase of the program. This phase is already proving to be a bit more unpredictable than the guaranteed-home-by-4:30-everynight routine we had going on before. One day he's home by 2:30 (sweet!) and the next he texts me at 5:45 to tell me he's leaving the office. Oy!


Either way, its one step closer to the next stage, which is still (typical Army) undetermined. We're not sure if we'll be able to stay here or not, but we've got 3 options and we're okay with all of the outcomes.


As for baby girl, well, things are craaaaazay! She is intense. She is emotional. She is stubborn. She is energetic. She is talking!


She has mastered the stairs. She knows what she wants, when she wants it and she will ask for it (typically) by name. She says "please" and "thank you."


Her tantrums have decreased markedly now that she is able to verbally express what she wants or needs, but that doesn't mean that they don't still grace us when she is told "no."


One of her favorite things to do is wash her hands. She also likes to stand on our step stool, ride her rocking horse, color, watch "tt", eat hummus, wear my shoes, kiss the dog, pick berries off our bushes, carry rocks around, pretend to put chapstick on us, blow bubbles (she calls them "bubbos"), make silly cheesy faces when I take her picture, and sit in chairs like a big girl (even though she falls off them).

As for me, I'm counting down the days until Thanksgiving so we can spend some time in (hopefully) sunny Florida! This year we're holding another recipe contest, but instead of appetizers we're tasked with making anything as long as it uses 5 ingredients or less and costs less than $20.


I've been busy with lots of things, but I also feel like whenever there is something I really want to do, like go to the Spouses' Club meetings, or MOPs, things come up (either AJ gets sick or something else). Speaking of AJ getting sick, she's had a few minor colds over the past few months, she also had her first ear infection. It cleared right up once she got on an antibiotic, but we were trapped in the house for almost 2 weeks! Ugh!


We've been trying to be more financially responsible as of late. This means we're introducing some new practices into our everyday lives, namely spending less, saving more and not eating out (like, ever). Its obviously not as much fun as spending more, saving less and eating out all the time, but we all have to grow up someday, right? I guess this is my time.

So folks, that's the update from our house since I last posted a month and a half ago. We're getting ready for Halloween and I, for one, am very excited for all the candy.