Beggar's Night

Here in Iowa we go trick-or-treating on the 30th instead of the 31st, and it's called Beggar's Night. It was about 70 degrees today--perfect for trick-or-treating. I took Isaac to my friend's neighborhood while Ryan stayed home and kept Maddie company. Here are a few pictures from tonight as well as the Halloween party at Ryan's school yesterday. Isaac liked his monkey costume for about 2 minutes, and then he'd had enough. Here's my little monkey (who had climbed on top of the kitchen table) attempting to take the costume off.

Feeding Mammie some of his banana

Taking a bite himself (sorry, Kelly! I'll make sure to wash it before I give it back to you.)

Family photo at the school's Halloween party

That's my boy!

Trick-or-treating with the other kids. He was a little bit skeptical of the whole idea for the first few houses, but it didn't take him long to get the gist of the whole "begging for candy" thing. By the end of the night I had to stop him from taking handfuls of candy instead of just one.

The idea behind Ryan staying home with Maddie was so that he could get a little studying done...didn't happen.

Check out this link to see my favorite mother/daughter costume. Isn't my niece adorable?

Stay tuned for even more Halloween pictures from tomorrow's Trunk or Treat. Have I mentioned that I love Halloween?

Crazy Eights

My friend Amy tagged me. Here goes...

Eight TV shows I like to watch:

1. The Office
2. Biggest Loser
3. Lost
4. Cash Cab
5. American Idol
6. Today Show
7. Nightly News
8. Sunday Morning

Eight restaurants where I like to eat:

1. Red Iguana
2. Cafe Rio
3. Zuppas
4. In-n-Out Burger (thanks for reminding me how much I miss this one, Amy!)
5. Cool Basil
6. Subway (How can you beat the $5 foot long?)
7. Thai Siam
8. Sweet Tomatoes

Eight things that happened today:

1. woke up
2. exercised
3. fed my kiddos
4. changed diapers/got children dressed
5. sewed Maddie some new leg warmers
6. ate soup for lunch
7. comforted little Isaac after he fell while playing at a friend's house and got the biggest goose egg of his little boy life
8. checked my email

Eight things I'm looking forward to:

1. Cooking club tomorrow (are you coming??)
2. The Halloween party at Ryan's school on Wednesday
3. Trick-or-Treating on Thursday (they do it on the 30th here in Iowa---not sure why)
4. Trunk-or-Treat at the church on Friday (can you tell I love Halloween?)
5. Thanksgiving
6. Christmas
7. Kandis's visit to Iowa next month
8. Seeing our family in less than two months!

Eight things on my wish list:

1. Being able to make it home for Christmas
2. cookie sheets (the midwest humidity has made all of mine rust)
3. memory card for the camera
4. a yard with a swing set
5. a date with my hubby (hopefully next week!)
6. a garage (Iowa winters can be brutal when you have to scrape the 3 inch ice off the wind shield...even though Ryan does this for me...I just hate to see him suffer in the cold, it's really hard on me)
7. Cafe Rio Pork Salad
8. Being able to make it home for Christmas

Eight people I tag:

1. Corey Ellen
2. Lisa
3. Shauni
4. Krystal
5. Shannon
6. Liz G.
7. Laura
8. Aupreille

It Runs in the Family

Here is video of Isaac just we took just a little over a year ago.

And here's a little clip that we took of Maddie this afternoon (Isaac is making the background noise, saying "Mas Mammie!" which translates to "I want to see Maddie in the view finder")

Is it just me, or is there a slight family resemblance?

Gearing Up

We are gearing up for Halloween and all of the candy that comes with it (I love having a toddler who can trick-or-treat! It's like being a kid again.) We celebrated with some friends last night. We ate soup and chili and made haunted houses. Ryan constructed the house, I decorated it, and Isaac ate it (or tried to, at least). It was a lot of fun and got me really excited for Halloween. Little Oakley decorating her house. There was some intense decorating going on with Mark and Aupreille. I couldn't keep up. Carter decorating with his mom, Shauni. Isaac, the opportunist, taking advantage of the "casa" made of candy. It was right at this moment that Ammon put the kabosh on Isaac eating his house. The family with our finished product. This is what I caught Ryan doing later that night after Isaac had gone to bed.

Maddie received a package in the mail the other day from her cousin (thank you!). This tutu was inside.

Isn't she the cutest little ballerina you've ever seen? (aside from your own little girls, of course). I forgot to put pillows around her as a safety net and didn't see this tumble coming until it was too late!---looks like our little ballerina will need to practice her balance before she heads out on the dance floor.

Mashed Potato Pizza

I've had a couple of bad experiences with cooking lately (just ask Ryan about the Kung Pao chicken), so when I found a winner, I decided I had to post it. This recipe is from my friend, Mandy, and we've made it twice in the past week--it sounds a little bit weird combining mashed potatoes in a pizza but it is delicious! Thanks, Mandy!

Mashed Potato Pizza

Pizza Crust (this is SUPER easy):

Combine:

1 T yeast

1 C warm water

1 tsp. sugar

Add:

1 tsp. salt

2 T vegetable oil

2 1/2 C flour (approximately)

Mix together, knead with hands or a mixer, and let rise 10 mins. Roll out onto pizza pan or stone. Poke holes in the dough with a fork. Cook for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees--until it starts to turn golden brown.

When the crust is ready, put a layer of mashed potatoes on top. Then top with whatever baked potato toppings you like--we used steamed broccoli, tomatoes, green onions, and lots of cheese(all I had last night was Velveeta and it was awesome--honestly, who doesn't love some Velveeta once in awhile?). After placing all of the toppings on the crust, bake it again for another 15-20 minutes, until the crust looks done and the cheese is melted.

Serve with sour cream or ranch.

If it gets Isaac to eat broccoli (even though it's covered in sour cream), I consider it a success. Even Maddie (who is usually content in her exersaucer while we eat dinner) insisted on being close to the action.

Keeping Up the Tradition

Every year since our first October together, Ryan and I have made caramel apples. The only difference this year was that after finishing the dipping, not only did we have a plethora of yummy apples, we also had a crazy toddler on our hands who had almost completely overdosed on sugar! He was actually really funny to watch.

Needless to say, he had a hard time getting to bed that night---as in, he was literally bouncing up and down in his crib for who-knows-how-long before actually falling asleep. Next year we'll moderate his sugar intake a little bit more closely. Live and learn, right?

In my family, when it comes to food, you either go big or you go home. Although we only dipped 8 apples, we had 5 different toppings (cinnamon sugar, Oreos, M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, and toffee chips that aren't shown) and two kinds of chocolate. In hindsight, it might have been just a little over the top.

Isaac and Ryan doin' the dippin'.

We probably should have stopped with just one spoonful of caramel and chocolate.

Isaac discovered he could get more M&Ms in his mouth if he stuck his entire fist in there along with the candy. As his parents, we are so proud.

The finished product.

Little Maddie slept through the whole thing. Don't worry, sweetheart, next year we'll let you eat a lot more than just your socks...

Tonight we attempted to go to a local pumpkin patch as a family but unfortunately they only took cash or check and we are card people (seriously, who carries around a bunch of cash these days? We can't be the only irresponsible ones who don't stop at an ATM on the way just in case and I'm wondering if it wouldn't help their business if they just invested in a credit card machine. I'm just sayin'...).

We let Isaac run around the little "Pumpkin Purchasing" area and then headed to Wendy's for dinner instead. Maybe next weekend we'll try again and actually come home from the pumpkin patch with a pumpkin.

What's so Funny?

Please try to ignore my animal sounds (they were making her laugh this afternoon, what's a mom to do?) and focus the sounds that Maddie is making.

Kid Tag

My friend, Lisa, tagged me. I have to write 5 things about each of my kids that others might not know. I'm sure some of you already know these things---my life, especially when it comes to my kids, is sort of an open book. I've included some pictures to make it more interesting. And I tag my sisters (both blood and law)---and Brookie, Homer counts.

Isaac:

Isaac loves ketchup. He will eat almost anything if he can dip it in ketchup. In this picture he's eating a pear dipped in ketchup. Yummm!

Lately Isaac is obsessed with watching home videos of himself. He calls these videos "Baby Isaac," and some of the first words out of his mouth in the morning are usually "Watch Baby Isaac?" Isaac loves to help me cook. If he hears me cooking in the kitchen, he'll usually stop whatever he's doing and run in the kitchen, yelling "Bumbo! Bumbo!" (he always sits in his Bumbo chair on the counter top to help). He's actually getting really good at helping me and loves to taste test whatever we're making. Isaac loves the swings at the park. He calls them "weee weeees" because that's what he says whenever he swings on them. As much as Isaac smothers his little sister, he adores her. The other day he found an empty bottle in my diaper bag (he loves to empty everything out whenever he can) and he ran over to Maddie (who was rolling around on the floor) and tried to feed her. He kept saying "Mammie leche! Mammie leche!" Granted, there was nothing in the bottle, but it's the thought that counts, right?

I can't imagine what our family would be like without Isaac in it.

Maddie:

Maddie is our little angel. Lately we have been practicing sitting up, and she does quite well for a few seconds. Then, she slowly starts to sink lower and lower until her chin is almost touching the ground and her legs are straight out in front of her, smiling the whole time. With her leg warmers on, I think she looks like a yoga instructor in that position. Most people know that Maddie was named after my mom, Madelyn. She was also named after Ryan's grandmother, Ruth. I know she will be proud to have their names someday. Maddie and I are officially sharing hair clips (the one she is wearing in the picture is one I have owned and worn myself for years). Maddie insists on holding her own bottle every morning when I feed her. Gotta love that morning bed head! I have never seen so much slobber in my life as I do coming from Maddie's mouth! I think it's because she smiles so much. We love to watch her personality shine. She really is our little angel.

Day Trip to Omaha

Today Ryan headed to the Omaha temple with the youth and we decided to go along for the ride. Kelly and her boys came along as well. While our husbands were with the youth in the temple, we took our kids to the park. Here are some pictures from our day. Sorry that there are so many but I just couldn't narrow them down so I posted all my favorites.

What four-year-old wouldn't love this awesome spider web?

It took him about 30 seconds to conquer it.

Chase running to catch up with Isaac. I love the look on his face.

It didn't take him long. These boys are behaving more and more like friends and less and less like enemies. It's great.

This boy loves to pose for the camera.

I hadn't seen a merry-go-round at a park in ages before today. It was a definite hit.

Kelly and her boys. This was my favorite picture of the day.

Isaac swinging solo.

On a side note, my friend found me an online tutorial (and you know how I love my online tutorials) for making baby leg warmers. They are so simple--you just make them out of women's socks. All you need is a pair of socks and a needle and some thread (or a sewing machine). Check them out here. Don't you just want to squeeze those chubby little legs? Ryan calls her Punky Brewster when she wears these, but I think she looks spunky.

I tried to take a picture while holding onto her so she didn't turf it. I think the flash left her a little bit stunned.