Our Halloween

 The day was actually quite grand.

My brother and I took Zack and Zoey out to breakfast at Panera. I had the new pumpkin pie bagel. It was fabulous. A great start to my Halloween!

There was lots of driving and picking up kids from school. Joel carved pumpkins for the kids. I roasted the seeds for the first time ever. I remember eating them as a child and they were terrible, but today they were delicious. I ate them by the handful. 

One of my friends mentioned that she was getting a pumpkin shaped pizza for her Halloween dinner. I thought it was a great idea and I wanted one too. It turned our local pizza shops were not offering pumpkin shaped pizzas so I had to improvise!

I used THIS recipe for super fast and easy pizza dough from my sister-in-law's blog, and made our own pumpkin shaped pizza.

I know.....but it tasted good!

After pizza the costume parade began.

Ninja Max,

 Kangaroo Zoey, (how funny, it looks just like kangaroo joey!)

Buzz Lightyear Zackary....

 and the little princess Snow White Mia.

 They are cute kids. I like them.

 Ty and I went as super cool party people.....

 As you can plainly see :)

Max showed off with a few karate moves.

 Mia was darling.

 We met up with our friends for trick-or-treating. It was really fun!

 I loved watching the kids run excitedly from door to door.

Everyone had a good time!

We came home and ate lots of candy and played some games. We listened to Halloween music and passed out candy until it was time for bed.

It was a great day!

Happy Halloween :)

Happy Halloween!

I am headed out to Redlands this morning to pick up my brother.
I am sure I will work in a trip to Target while I am out there. (So many benefits!)

This afternoon it's all about the kids!

I have a fun dinner planned and a few games and then....trick-or-treating!

It should be a great day. I hope the kids get some good candy so they can share with me!

Good Things

Yesterday was a tough. The day was long, I was tired, and so were the kids!

To brighten up our day I made one of our "daddy's not home unconventional dinners".

This: Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Bread

The recipe comes from Joy the Baker's cookbook, which I love to cook from.

I thought this was some of the best pumpkin bread I have tried and it was vegan friendly, which is a good thing if you are a vegan :)

Anyway....pumpkin bread for dinner was delightful!

Today I am looking ahead into the next few months.....It's Holiday Time!

I am working on my Christmas shopping. 2 kids done!

I am planning a Thanksgiving thankful countdown starting on Thursday. (because Thursday in November 1st....how did that happen!?)

Halloween is tomorrow and I am throwing together some last minute fun.

Every year I try to be organized and plan ahead, because these months just fly by and I want to enjoy them as much as possible!

I am really looking forward to all the fun this year.

Also: I need to make these

Caramel Apple Brownies  from Foodie Crush

 Halloween seems like a great excuse.

Have an awesome Tuesday!

A List

Today:

1. Take kids to school

2. Treat Zackary and myself to hot chocolate from Starbucks

3. Grocery shopping: milk, yogurt, paper, and chocolate :)

4. Chores! laundry, bathrooms, dishes :(

5. Kindergarten Carpool. It's my week!

6. Pick up Max

7. Homework and reading

8. Dinner (something easy)

9. Karate (Max)

10. Baths and Bed (me too please!)

The end.

Have a nice day :)

Snippets

Sad Buzz Lightyear :(

He was just hungry :)

Zack loves his costume this year. He wants to wear it all the time!

And here we have Zack, Max, and Mia enjoying some time on the front porch swing.

It is a scene we see often.

It's been a great Sunday and we are ready for the week!

Slightly Frazzled

Today is the big day....it's the long awaited, and anxiously anticipated....primary program!

I am so looking forward to the end of sacrament meeting :)

I am handling everything pretty well. This morning, while the rest of the family was upstairs, I went downstairs and turned my music on. I turned it on loud. I rocked out while washing dishes.

It was cathartic.

Prayers have been said and fingers are crossed! Let's do this.

How do you handle anxiety? With exercise, music, chocolate, friends, or something else?

A Bad Rap...

Peanut Butter has had a tough time.

It seems like peanut butter allergies are more prevalent and severe than ever before. So much that some schools have banned it from lunch!

Recent salmonella scares have resulted in massive recalls.

Some of my favorite spreads have been discontinued :(

Despite this, I am still happily eating peanut butter. I hope that sometime soon peanut butter can work it's way out of the doghouse.

Until then I will make this:

Reeses Peanut Butter White Chocolate Bark (Recipe: HERE)

(I will of course be using dark chocolate in place of white, but you get the idea...it's all about the peanut butter!)

Are you getting rid of all your peanut butter and swearing it off forever?

Who's the Roo?

 It's Zoey!

 This afternoon is the Harvest Carnival at Max and Mia's school. Mia will be performing with the choir and all of the kids can arrive in costume.

 This kangaroo is the smallest costume we have and it is just a little big for Zoey.

 but it's still cute!

I think it's a go. Too bad she won't be able to move or see once she is in it :)

Gallery Wall

I am terrible at hanging pictures!

I love this idea for a gallery wall. 

Find the tutorial HERE.

Girls and Bows

We own a fair amount of hair accessories.

Mia has a drawer in her bathroom that is pretty much overflowing with ribbons and bows.

Zoey is starting a collection of her own, or rather I am starting it for her.

I am sure she loves big bows as much as I do :)