Trick-or-Treating

We had a lot of fun with Halloween this year.  Last year we didn't even bother going trick or treating with Lucas cause he didn't really understand what was going on.  But this year, he really got into it.  Lucas dressed up as a puppy.  I had a lot of fun ideas for this costume, and none of them really worked out.  And then to top it all off, Lucas lost his ears before we were able to get a picture of him wearing them.  I still have no idea where they are.  But honestly, I think he's so cute with his nose and freckles that it doesn't matter that no one really knew what he was.

 We stopped off at a neighbor's party before heading out to trick or treat.  They had the coolest play room for the kids to play in - complete with a ball pit, a motorized car for the kids to ride around on, and a snack table with juice boxes and pretzels.

 We headed out to trick or treat with the neighbors, but we had such a big group of kids we decided to branch off on our own so the trick or treating didn't take too long.

Lucas was a little nervous at first but when he realized they were giving him candy he decided it was fun after all.

You can just barely see his little tail in this picture - proof that he was a puppy.

He got pretty good at saying trick or treat, and he got fistfuls of candy cause everyone thought he was so cute and little.

Here he is running back from one of the doors.  He was having so much fun!  And Ryan and I had fun running around with him and reliving our childhood.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch here in Livermore today.  On a completely unrelated note, Lucas likes to put daddy's deodorant on in the morning.  He's not very good at getting on the actual arm pit.

 Lucas liked getting pumpkins a lot more than I thought he would.  He was running all over the place grabbing as many pumpkins as he could to stick in our wagon.

The "pumpkin patch" part was not quite as cool as I thought it would be.  You could tell the pumpkins had been harvested and relocated from the actual patch, and put in rows out front to make it easier to go through.  Oh well, Lucas still had fun.

 Taking a snack break from all that running around.

They also had a fun area for the kids to play.  They had farm animals, pony rides, face painting, a playground, and this hay bale maze.

 Lucas's favorite part besides the pumpkins was probably the corn box.  Like a sand box but with corn.  He would have played all day if we had let him.

Happy Birthday, Ryan

Discovery Museum

On Saturday we took Lucas to the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  We invited grandpa to come along.  The museum didn't have many exciting things for adults to do, but Lucas was in heaven.  The view from the parking lot of the museum was really pretty.

I stole some of these pictures from my dad, because my camera battery was dying.  There were a lot of fun things to do outside, so we did all that in the morning when the weather was nice.  We swam fish in a stream.

 We built some fun towers, and then later Lucas tipped them over.

 Lucas liked the view from the crow's nest.

He really liked driving this boat.  It even had a little captain's quarters under deck with a toilet that Lucas kept trying to go in.

 There was a big log that Lucas liked climbing through.  He made grandpa squeeze through a few times too. Grandpa didn't fit quite as well as Lucas did.

 Lucas liked pretending to be a spider.

 And there was a cool tree stump stair case that we all hiked up.  I think we're going to have to start taking Lucas outside to explore more often; he loved going around to all the different paths and tromping through the dirt.

 We stopped for lunch and then finished up with some of the indoor stuff.  The indoor stuff wasn't quite as much fun for Lucas, because it was geared towards older children.  Lucas did like playing with this large train set, though.

 We had a really fun time playing at the museum.

Best Church Calling Ever

This week I got asked if I would make the flyers and posters for our ward's Fall Festival.  It was seriously so much fun to make these posters.  I love how they turned out.  It was probably way more than necessary, but look at how cute that scarecrow is.  I kinda hope I get asked to do this all the time.

Cute Baby Stuff

I've been working on a few baby presents recently and I thought I would share.  I sure do love making cutesy little baby things.  It was really fun making these flower headbands.  I thought about making Lucas model them but I changed my mind.

 And I think this might be the cutest tie onesie I've ever seen.  I love how it turned out.

I made this card to go with one of the baby presents.  All the colorful butterflies make me happy.

Are You Kidding Me?

Umm, our son is freaking adorable.  I'm sorry, but when did he become so dang cute?  I know I say this in every post but he is growing up so fast.  I know people say that about all kids, but I really feel like in the past few months things have been accelerating more than usual.  He is definitely a toddler now.

One part about being a toddler that we're not huge fans of... he pretty much refuses to eat now.  Every once in a while he decides he going to eat really well and we think, "oh yay, that phase is over".  Nope, he was just messing with us.  The only things he will eat consistently are cereal, macaroni, and Swedish fish (curse you Ryan George)!  And by consistently I mean he will take like 5 bites, instead of refusing to eat altogether.

Yesterday I made this lunch for him.

I thought I was being so creative cutting things into circles, and for about 3 minutes it looked like it was going to work.  Lucas got all excited and said, "oh, circles", and then took like 4 bites and decided to go play with toys instead.  Oh well.  I'm sure we will get through this eventually, and probably quicker than we expect, cause like I said... he's growing up way too fast.

Sausage Bolognese

For those of you who read my sister's blog, this will be a repeat for you, but she introduced me to this amazing  recipe and it is so good I just had to pass it on.  It takes about 30-45 minutes to make, but you just throw everything into a pot and let it simmer so I call that easy.  Seriously, give it a try, you will be hooked!

Sausage Bolognese 

Ingredients 
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound of ground sausage
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves
6-8 mushrooms, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/3 cup cream cheese
1 pound rigatoni pasta
1/4 cup Parmesan

Directions
Put chopped up carrots, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse the vegetables until finely chopped but still chunky. Add olive oil to a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage until browned. Add the chopped vegetables, cook until tender, about 6 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms, and tomato paste and continue cooking, stirring to dissolve the tomato paste, until the mushrooms are softened. Add the beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add cream cheese and stir just until the cheese is incorporated. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and add to the bolonase mixture. Toss with Parmesan and serve.

Cream of Wheat

I may be a weirdo but I love cream of wheat.  Especially now that the weather is getting cold, I love having a bowl of this for breakfast.  So when I saw this link to get a free sample of Cinnabon cream of wheat, I was super excited and I decided to share it with you in case there is anyone else out there that actually likes this stuff.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the tiniest little free sample in the mail and it will be super disappointing, but oh well.

Date Night

Ryan and I went out on our first date in a long time last night... without Lucas. It was fantastic! We got a babysitter, and I even painted my fingernails-I never do that. We went to Simply Fondue here in Livermore. We've never been to a fondue place before so we were really excited. It was so good, and really fun. You cook your own meat for the entree, which was cool at first, but then we got bored of waiting for the food to cook all the way through before eating it. But the food was amazing, and it was definitely a good experience. We ate so much cheese fondue and meat that we were way too stuffed to order chocolate fondue. We are definitely going to have to go back for just dessert sometime. And they make everything right there in front of you so now I know how to make their yummy cheese fondue.  Anyone want to come over and give me an excuse to try it out?