Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Yep

Michael has been showing me fowl language comics for awhile and it finally dawned on me that I can follow them on Instagram. 

This one rings especially true today. Tried to get a nice pic of A in his Frankenstein shirt I made him. This ensued. 

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Wordless Halloween weekend

This weekend was busier than I remember one being in a long time. 

Friday night my 5th and Andrew's 3rd trip to the dance at my nephew's school. 
Then hanging around at auntie heathers (he hilariously called her "teacher heather" which leads me to believe he thinks her house is a daycare-they do have the toys for it)

Saturday chores and lazy reading. 
Then Pumpkin carving at Margot's house. We told him in the morning that we were going to Margot's house and subsequently heard/ were asked about it all day. He was pretty excited. 
I got asked to make an Elmo pumpkin (Michael was assigned to make a Frankenstein pumpkin). I said I'd try  

Cut out a stencil with my crafting machine.
And I got 2nd place (in a run off with a child...that was close. )

Sunday I consignment shopped with my mom and now have all the baby clothes ever. 

Then it was his buddy E's 3rd birthday party. It was at a gymnastics school and it was SO cool. He had an absolute blast. 
Then home and a lazy sushi dinner where he tried his chopsticks for the first time. 

So busy but really good. 
Bonus is he had a fantastic potty weekend which included interrupting himself at pumpkin carving and during gymnastics to go AND success with both modes of elimination and no accidents at all. 

It was also cute how much he talked about everything we did. He loved it when the lights went out for pumpkin viewing at A&k's and kept telling us today how "Kevin made it dark." 

Plus our house now looks so festive with our newly carved pumpkins. 

Friday, October 23, 2015

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

fall basics

Yep. I'm pretty basic. I blame it somewhat on going to college in Irvine. It cemented some basic behaviors. 

One of which is my propensity to try any seasonal flavor of anything. I don't even care if it tastes good- it is more a curiosity about the creativity and ridiculousness of the creator. 

So far this year (M will be shocked about most of these because my strategy this season has been to take everything directly to work- do not pass home):

This was SO DELICIOUS. I ate 80% of it off a spoon. 
These were good!
These were disgusting 
I hold reddi-whip above all amorphous solids but this stuff was ok. So far I've only eaten this off a spoon. But looking forward to having it on waffles. 


I found this year that there is a toddler correlation to pumpkin spice. It is pumpkin face. 
You want to ratchet up Andrew's joy over something? Put a pumpkin on it. 
We have started our surprise pumpkins again this year. A mini pumpkin shows up somewhere about once a week. He has taken to sleeping with the two tiniest ones.  


He also got a new smoothie cup (which he decided I should use while he stole my smoothie)
A pumpkin book (pictured with cupcakes above) and this pumpkin shirt. 
So basically he is living the life. 

His Halloween costume is coordinated to M but he has a few events where he needs to fly solo. So tonight I picked him up a pumpkin costume at the local consignment sale. Will report back with his reaction to that one. 

Saturday, October 17, 2015

34, you're up.

Another birthday come and gone. It was nice if a little too starkly adult. Went to work where they had the nerve to have expectations of me and kept me thoroughly busy the ENTIRE day. Bastards. 

But then it was lovely. Met M over at the new house then the three of us went to KidsQuest late evening hours and shot countless balls through an air cannon (well that part was A's job) into tubing mazes M and I made. Then dinner. Then home to fall asleep on the couch/bed at 9 pm thanks to a mean insomniac episode which had me up since 2am...guess my body wanted me to experience the wee hours of my birthday. 
He still lights up in this little playhouse with a bunch of silly doorbells. 
Added bonus was that I needed to take approx 1000 pictures of myself to get one I recognized thanks to my weight and the fact that I think my nose has been swelling specifically this pregnancy. Ugh. 

The thing that cracks me up most in this modern world is how the inter webs and e-commerce celebrate your birthday. 

Winners:
World market exlorerers club- $10 merchant credit. I love this one!!! That store is super fun and I spent mine on a potential baby wall hanging and some international type snacks. 

Starbucks- birthday reward. I thought the Bucks forgot my birthday but nope. As soon as I can settle in which ridiculous drink is never typically order I will raise a toast to our continued relationship. 

The mid-range:
Qdoba- bogo entree. They used to send chips and queso. Which was nice because even if you are friendless you can enjoy nachos. I've never understood the bogo for birthdays. Isn't that me just tagging along with a friend at lunch on my birthday? 

Every damn website I've ever registered for sent me 10-40% off of something. 

Rent the runway sent me a free rental whic I'll totally not use but (as the marketing team gambled on) it did remind me that one day I will have somewhere fancy to go and I will rent the runway. 

Our mortgage lender sent me an e-card and a post card. Thanks. 

The rude:
State Farm-a reminder that as I'm getting up there in age, I should really iron out life insurance. I also got a follow up call on the matter. 

So let's do this 34!

Side note though. I missed my little birthday challenge. I really loved having something (non food based) that was strictly just me celebrating being alive. If I'm lucky enough to do the birthday thing next year I will think of something. 

Side side note. Darn leap year means I completely skip a Saturday bday. Andrew skips a Monday and Michael (lucky) skips over to a Friday bday next time. 

And finally, because the sleep issue of the day is 5 am Charlie horses, I am not this snarky to actually feel this way but this song still makes me laugh a lot. 
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5753258



Thursday, October 8, 2015

Earth goddess: fall edition

Whenever I make applesauce I get so proud of myself. 

Whenever I make applesauce I also feel very Caroline Ingalls. 

Except it is really not anything to be that proud of and it was not nearly so easy for her to do as it is for me. 

But I love that I just fill the crockpot with apples, a cinnamon stick and a sliver of lemon peel and let it go overnight and voila! A quick stick blender blend and I have magically turned a full crockpot into a half pot of deep brown, slightly lemony, Apple goodness. 

It is non-intuitive because (while I only do it when apples are on deep sale) it costs more than applesauce which typically costs us nothing because we don't typically purchase the sauce. But it's fun, it tastes amazing and we all three love it plus it is excellent to freeze for baking. 

So here is my very official blogger recipe (slightly adapted from skinnytaste.com, I leave out the sugar) :
Fill the crock pot with peeled and cored apples (6-10)
Add a cinnamon stick and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon if you like.
A curl of lemon peel

Cook 8ish hours on low. 
Stir vigorously for chunky sauce or blend for smooth. 

This got super dark because it was in the crockpot for a longer than usual time.