Carven Der Pumpkin

Happy Halloween!  We are looking forward to a fun night of trick-or-treating tonight.  Yesterday we carved one of our pumpkins.  It was messy with little helpers, but a lot of fun!


There were, of course, many references to the Swedish Chef.

We also roasted the pumpkin seeds from our pumpkin after we carved it.  We used this recipe, and they were delicious!  The cooking time was a little too long.  Next time I would check them after 45 minutes.

Some October thoughts from the Random G

Here are some more random deep thoughts from Random G.

"My cerebellum hurts when I cough." (They just spent a week studying the brain at school.)

"There's this girl in my class at school that wants to be a rock star, but I think the only star is Jesus."

"On TV they make it sound like money is the most important thing, but I think it's not.  There's more important things like God and church."

"Martha's having a Halloween costume party for her birthday, but I don't want to wear my costume until Halloween because it might get ruined."

"I don't know if the people at my school are Christians or not because I read two books about David and Goliath today and they were both in the fairy tale section of the reading corner and they are NOT fairy tales."

"Dad, you and mom are my best friends. Well, actually God's my first best friend and then you and mom are my second best friends. (Long pause) I don't really like the angels though. They kind of freak me out. (Another thoughtful pause) Well, except for Gabriel. I kind of like him. I was him in a play at school last year."

Does anyone remember the Swedish chef from the Muppets?  Richie has introduced the kids to the Swedish chef on youtube and they love him.  Griffin has memorized all of the ones he has seen.  So, I will leave you with these videos.  "Making Donuts" is the kids' favorite one...

And here is Griffin's version of the Swedish Chef making donuts.

Kitchen Update

During the past week we have had some work done on our kitchen to update it.  We had the cabinets and walls painted, new lighting and countertops installed, a counter built over the washer and dryer, and we purchased new appliances.

Here are the BEFORE pictures...


Here are the AFTER pictures...


We were really pleased with the results!  Our dryer will go in the empty space next to the washer when it arrives.  We tried to keep the colors neutral.  I also have a few more things on my list to do...like purchasing a new table and chairs, and getting some art for over the sink and putting something in the cabinet over the sink.

What do you think so far?  Let me know if you have any decorating suggestions for the sink area!

Fall Snack Mix

Margaret is star student today at PDO. She had to bring a snack, a poster about herself and her favorite book.  We made her poster and snack yesterday.  I thought I would pass along this easy recipe in case you need to take a simple "no-cook" snack somewhere this fall.  We have been having work done on our kitchen this week, so I needed something easy.

You will need these ingredients.

Mix them all together, and that's it!

Fall Snack Mix
makes about 15 cups (it made enough for about 22 snack-size ziploc baggies)
adapted from idea on Pinterest

4 cups Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal
4 cups tiny pretzel twists
1 bag autumn mix candy corn
2 cups Reese's pieces
1 box (family size) Crunch 'n Munch
1 bag chocolate graham Goldfish (or teddy grahams)

Mix together and store in an airtight container.


Here's Margaret with her poster!

Fall Break in Little Rock

The kids had fall break this weekend, so we took a trip to Little Rock to visit Richie's family.  We had such a good time as always.


Griffin and Cole had so much fun playing together.

We went downtown one day and toured the Clinton presidential library. The library was really interesting, and I would recommend visiting it if you are ever in Little Rock. We go to Little Rock a lot, but have never taken the time to visit there.



They had a special exhibit from a Lego artist while we were there, and it was really cool.



Afterwards, we had lunch and walked around downtown.
On Saturday, Richie and I woke up early and went running on the Arkansas River Trail. They've just opened up a new bridge to some trails on an island close to the River Mountain Park. It was beautiful, and they were great trails to run or bike on.
After breakfast, the girls went with Nana to the animal shelter to buy a cat (more on that later). Bro took Richie, Griffin and I to see the USS Razorback submarine museum downtown. He knew Griffin would love it.
Mamie and Margaret had a lot of fun picking out a cat with Nana. They loved going to Petsmart to buy all of the supplies too. They named the kitten Cappuccino, and they are calling her Cappy.
Richie and Chris watched a lot of Cardinals baseball and played Nintendo RBI.
We had a wonderful visit!