October 31st

Now that's a sweet little gadget!

 They actually stood next to each other long enough to catch a picture!

 It seemed like a great idea for Nate to use his tool box for candy, but it wasn't really. He looked good carrying it, but it took him way too long to open and close it at each house!

 The whole trick-or-treating gang. Nate wasn't in full costume yet, and Evie refused to be in the picture. We planned to go on our street in hopes of meeting some new neighbors, but no lights were on. We joined some friends instead.

 Jack the robot making Nate laugh, as usual!

A tired little iPod!

October 30th

We dressed the kids up in their costumes for our church's family fun night Saturday night. They had trunk-or-treat, bounce houses, a hay ride, and some games. I admit, taking the kids to events like this is more fun that I would've ever imagined!

iPod Evie reluctantly going to get her picture taken with Nate the Builder (or Handy Natey).

 She didn't mind being in her costume one bit, and Nate was happy to carry his toys around all evening.

I made the iPod Nano costume for Nate two years ago. We joked that we really need to upgrade to the iPod Touch or the iPhone. We're a couple years behind. Maybe next year!

There was a small pumpkin patch that I envisioned sweet pictures from, but this is the best I could get.

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

I know a picture would make this post way more enticing, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. But I still think this recipe is worth posting.

I couldn't tell you the last time I ate a doughnut. I think it was early in my pregnancy with Evie when a package of powdered doughnuts jumped into my grocery cart. They were one of the few foods that tasted really good at the time.

When one of us is craving something like doughnuts I usually try to make it myself, but homemade doughnuts take too long and make too much mess. So when I saw this recipe for pumpkin doughnut muffins I knew they'd be in my kitchen before long. I love Martha Stewart's Everyday Food cookbooks, Great Food Fast and Fresh Flavor Fast, and my sister got me a subscription to Everyday Food magazine for my birthday. This recipe was in the November issue. I made them yesterday morning to start our Halloween weekend off right. They were yummy! They're like cake doughnuts covered in cinnamon, but in the shape of muffins. Here's the recipe:

for the batter:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree (15-oz can)
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
2 large eggs

for the sugar coating:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups. Make batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, using an electic mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture, and beat to combine.

Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack. (Store in an airtight container, up to 1 day.) Enjoy!

Tile

We've been in our house for almost three months, and so far we haven't crossed much off our list of home improvement projects. We painted the kids' bedrooms, but that's about it. Not being able to work until the kids are in bed makes it difficult to accomplish anything.

But, Stephen spent last weekend working on the biggest project: tiling the kids' bathroom floor. The previous owners had carpet in there, but we had that pulled up when we moved in and have been living with the concrete floor until now. 

Stephen finished grouting the floor last night, so the next project is to remove that awful wallpaper and paint the walls instead.

 I'll try to remember to post pictures of the finished product. I really like it so far!

Since Stephen was locked up in the bathroom all weekend (go ahead and insert your bathroom jokes here), it was business as usual for the kids and me.

 They're slowly becoming playmates.

Snack time!

Brotherly Sisterly Love

One moment ...

they're doing this.

The next moment ...

this.

 And in the end ... friends again!

The previous pictures were seriously taken within moments of each other. Siblings!

Bows

 Last night Evie found the drawer where I keep her bows.

 And she wanted me to put ALL of them in her hair.

 And then she was happy!

Evie has had a round of sickness lately. I won't go into all the details, but the most recent thing was a skin infection. If you noticed her red left eye in the first picture, this will explain it:

Monday evening she got a mosquito bite below her eye, and Tuesday morning when she woke up it was swollen all the way from the bite to her eye. It was so bad that her eye was almost swollen shut. I waited it out, but by Wednesday morning is was still getting worse, so we went to the doctor. Evidently she had bacteria on her skin and when the mosquito bit her it injected the bacteria and turned into an infection. We got her some meds and it's looking much better now. Poor baby!

Rewind

We got a new computer and it's not quite up and running yet, which means I haven't been able to upload any new pictures. So I thought I'd rewind back to the summer and post some pictures from Elizabeth's wedding that I never posted. Here are some of my favorites:

Nate with his Uncle Nathan. 

I think Nate was just a little bit excited about those flowers!

Sisters

Ready to walk down the aisle.

The newlyweds

The Blans.We almost had everyone looking at the camera, Evie!

Nathan, Erica, and Samuel

There's a shark in the house

Nate got a helium balloon at the grocery store on Friday. He played with it for hours this weekend. It lost the perfect amount of helium so it would float through the air and he could run and jump and hit it all over the house. Last night he hit it into the little cubby hole next to the fireplace that has some leftover fire wood and wood chips from the previous owners. Here's a shortened version of the conversation that followed:

Stephen: "Nate, don't hit the balloon in there. That wood is sharp and might pop it."
Nate: "There's a shark in there?"
Stephen: "No, Nate. It's sharp in there. Those wood chips have sharp edges and might pop the balloon."
Nate: "There's a shark in the house?"
Me: "No, Nate. It's sharP. P, p, p, p. SharP. Not sharK. SharP." (Emphasizing the "p" and "k" sounds.)
Nate: Very worried and with tears coming now, "There's a shark in the house? A shark will bite me."
Stephen: "No, sweetie. I promise there's not a shark in the house ..."

This continued for at least 30 minutes. We used every logical explanation we could think of to assure him that there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. That sharks don't live in houses, nonetheless fireplaces. But all the logic in the world couldn't convince him that a shark was not in the house. He woke up twice in the night crying, and no doubt it was because he was worried that the shark had finally escaped from the fireplace.

Here's a sweet picture of that silly boy with his my-mom-tried-to-cut-my-hair-what-was-she-thinking haircut.

Calm before the storm

Last Friday we had the most pleasant surprise. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees! The 80 degree weather felt more like 60 after months of 100+ temps. Stephen and I seriously kept getting chills from the breeze! We spent the entire afternoon and evening outside, and even ate a snacky picnic dinner out on the patio. It was a breath of fresh air, especially since I had braced myself for temps in the 90s for the rest of September. I really miss fall weather! Here are a couple pictures from the evening:

That was the calm before the storm. Less than 24 hours later Evie came down with the worst stomach bug any of us have ever had. She spent three full days with a high fever and unable to keep anything down. Somehow we kept enough fluids in her to keep her from dehydrating. I really don't know how! We made our very first sick visit to the doctor yesterday (I'm so thankful for my kids' good health!) just to make sure she didn't have anything other than the stomach bug. Everything checked out, and even as we sat and waited in the doctor's office she perked up, played with some toys, and ate a ziploc full of cheerios! She's still fussy today, but I think we've weathered the storm and she'll be back to her sweet self before long.

Almost walking

Evie is FINALLY taking a few steps!

She's still pretty unstable though.

Nate was the first person she was brave enough to walk to, and she still chooses to walk to him before anyone else. He actually does a great job of catching her.

I would've liked to photoshop myself out of this one, but I think it tells too much about our life to change it. I love the look on Evie's face!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Nate with his train cake.

I thought this picture was fun enough to post. Stephen took a picture with the camera while I took a picture with my phone.

Blowing out his 3 candles!

Jack posing for the camera.

Sweet Caroline.

Nate eating a train wheel, aka mini Oreo cookie, from his piece of cake.

Nate turned three on Sunday! We celebrated on Saturday with some friends. We didn't get many pictures of the event, but Nate had fun and I think his friends did too. We planned a sports themed little party, but due to the 100+ temps outside the games we planned didn't happen. 

Nate's cake was themed around his favorite things: trains and balls. I had decided on a train cake for his birthday, so when I discovered the foil wrapped chocolate sports balls it was a perfect fit. I was fairly pleased with the final product, but I think this cake will be one that I never attempt again. So, if we ever have another little boy - Sorry, buddy. No train cake for you. Or at least not one like this.

Scattered

We've been in our new house for a week today, and I'm still quite scattered. Unpacking and putting everything in its place has been more challenging than I imagined with two little ones to take care of. Plus, Stephen had to attend training all week. And I had a colonoscopy on Wednesday (no problems, just preventative due to a bad family history). Those two things definitely hindered the process. I think we'll be living with boxes for a few months!

We're flying to Kentucky tomorrow morning to stay for a week, and upon our return I have high hopes of blogging. I guess some pictures of the new place are in order!

Color outside the lines

We went to story time at the library on Tuesday. The theme was bees, and Nate got this coloring page to bring home and color.

And color he did!

I don't know at what age kids learn to color inside the lines, but I'm pretty sure Nate isn't ready for that lesson yet. And I'm pretty sure I could use some lessons from him about coloring outside the lines.

Our new house

I mentioned earlier that if we didn't move to Kentucky this summer we would most likely buy a house in Texas. Well, we are! Above is a picture of what will soon be our home! Everything is falling into place, and we're scheduled to close on July 23rd. A week and a half from now! Nope, we haven't packed any boxes yet. I'm really hoping they'll pack themselves.

I'm starting to get a little sad about leaving our little home of two years. Mostly because I have such sweet memories of watching my babies grow here. But I'm also nervous about moving to a bigger space. We'll almost be doubling our space. I'm so used to having all of us right here all the time, and it's cozy. The kids won't get lost in the new place or anything, but it will feel big to us.

But, I'm going to have a kitchen! With a double oven! And cabinet space! And I'll be able to work in it while the kids sleep because they'll be far enough away that I won't wake them up! And the driveway is fenced in the back so Nate can ride his bike. And there's just enough yard to enjoy. I could go on. We really like the house.

So, the next couple weeks might be a little crazy for us. I'm not sure what moving with two kids to take care of looks like, but I'll know soon enough!

Winkler Wedding

Elizabeth and Matthew's professional wedding pictures aren't back yet, but I'll post what we have so far. A few days after the wedding their photographer posted some pictures on a blog that you can view here. Of course Elizabeth was a beautiful bride. Every detail of the wedding and reception played out perfectly. Since everything ran so smoothly we (and I think I can speak for everyone else involved) sat back, relaxed, and had a great time celebrating the bride and groom. And now Elizabeth and Matthew are enjoying sweet wedded bliss!

Because Stephen and I were too busy chasing and taking care of our own kids to take any pictures, others have been generous enough to share their own with us. Here's what we have so far:

 At the rehearsal dinner, tucked away in a corner so the kids wouldn't disturb the party.

 Evie gets giddy when she's tired, and it makes for cute pictures! (Thanks, Jessica!)

 The bride-to-be at the rehearsal dinner, holding some very cool m&ms that had a picture of Matthew and her on them. It really looked like them too!

The bride and groom.

 Nathan and Erica (Erica is expecting #2. Yay!)

Click the "Read more" link to see more pictures.