weekend pics

Friday night we went to the Halloween carnival at our church. We had a fun time, but had to end the night a little early because Cameron wasn't feeling well. He still got two bounce houses in and a few games. Kendall also got to pet some animals, which she loved.

Right before we left. Yes, I actually stuffed this into a car seat. Not my brightest idea. :)


Cake walk.



Watching brother bounce.


Saturday we got to hang out with Chris's family for the afternoon. I don't have pictures, but both kids had a wonderful time with the cousins. We had a yummy lunch and the kids carved pumpkins. On the way home, Chris and I were talking about the fact that it was probably the first time ever that the meal was eaten in somewhat of a relaxing manner. We even got to sit around and talk some afterward, while both kids played with their cousins in the back of the house. This is very new to us...to have both kids independent enough to allow us not to have to be hands on the entire time. :)

Today we went to Victoria Gardens. They had a a fall street fair with different vendors. We let the kids play, walked around, and then went to Bass Pro Shop.

Lunch at Costco, on our way. Kendall sure loved the sugar cookie sample!




Right now Chris and Cam are trick or treating. I caught a quick picture at our neighbor's house, before seeing them off (Kendall was already in bed).

3 recipes

This first recipe I've probably blogged about before. However in case I didn't, I thought I better because it's SOOO tasty. It's also one of the best recipes I've found for serving a large group. It's super easy and made in the crock pot...which makes it great so you aren't floundering as your guests arrive. The recipe is from my mother-in-law, however I found it on allrecipes.com. It's called, Chalupa. Here is the link.



A friend of mine shared her Vegetable Pad Thai recipe. Chris wasn't as big of a fan as I was, simply because he prefers a richer sauce. But if you like a light, refreshing pasta, you should try this one.



The third recipe has not yet been consumed, however I sampled as I made it (isn't that half the fun?), and it's pretty good. :) It's a German Chocolate Cake Trifle.

friends and wight loss

When Chris and I were newly married, we met Jeremy and Ana (at the church we used to attend). We became good friends and this continued until we moved out here. I was sad because I thought, "Realistically, how are we going to stay close when we live an hour away?" Fortunately, not only has our friendship weathered the move, but 4 kids later, we are probably closer than we were before the move. Whenever friends have kids around the same time, the friendship automatically goes to a new level as you have sooo much more in common.

Their family will often head out our way to hang out for the day. The guys will golf, and the girls will stay back with the kids and visit.

Anyway, both guys have tried to lose weight off and on for a while. They've made bets with each other, but that hasn't seemed to work. So a couple visits back, Ana had a great idea. Disclaimer: The guys were asking for our help in this area...we weren't nagging our way into it. :) She suggested that the guys set themselves a weight goal each time we all get together. If they meet it, they get to play golf, like normal. If they DON'T meet it, they still come out, but the guys stay back with the kids and the girls go out for an afternoon of shopping/hanging out. So far it has really seemed to work and both have lost weight. Seems golf, or the lack thereof, is a pretty good motivator. :)

Here is a pic of us pre-kids. Ahhh...the days of freedom. Hehe :)

it's that time again!!!

As the holidays approach, so do the made for TV movies! I've already watched two and am excited to watch as many more as I can. It's so funny how I can put up with a lot of cheesiness with these things. For some reason, I just love them (mainly the Christmas ones). I've learned a few things in my viewing:

*They typically always involve a man/woman who is a workaholic, in need of finding that special someone to show them what's really important in life.
*Many consist of big city people finding themselves (through various circumstances) in a small, quaint town. At first they mock these cute towns. However by the end, they want to live there (usually because the love interest resides there).
*These small towns often are threatened by evil corporate monsters. They want to tear down historic places and built condos/high rises instead.
*People fall in love and propose marriage after only a few weeks.

Here are the two I've seen that I would recommend: Growing the Big One (despite me NOT being a Shannon Doherty fan!) and Fairfield Road.

Orange Railway Museum

Today we had two kids who, while felt fine and played normal, had some pretty snotty noses. They were snotty enough to stay home from church, but not snotty enough for us to stay inside all day. Typically our weekends consist of our rotation of Palm Springs and Victoria Gardens. Chris suggested we mix things up a bit. It took a little research as we didn't want to spend much money, but he found a great place. We drove about 45 minutes to a train museum and had a fun afternoon. Admission was free and the only money spent was $2 on a little train toy/ride for Cam.

Here is the cute ride. Cam loved it!

The kids enjoyed climbing in the various trains they had on display.



Cam's fun time was made AWESOME by a toy train display with working trains. He could have stayed here all afternoon. His favorite was a replica of the Metrolink, complete with little people inside the mini windows. A man told us about a train convention in November, which we might have to attend. :)

At Costco today, as the kids were playing with the toys, I saw a woman bring a box over and set it down on a table. She then proceeded to rip open the box and take 2 small bottles out. She put them into her pocket. She glanced up at me and I gave her a, "Did you really just do that?" look. She came over to me and said, "It's ok". I responded, "No, it's not." She said, "You're right. It's not. I'll pay for the whole box." "Yes", I said.

She then proceeded to go pick up the box and walk off. I walked over to an employee and described what happened and gave a description of her. He walked off and I saw he found the empty box she had obviously dumped somewhere. About 10 minutes later, I saw her sitting at a table at the food court. The employee walked up to me and said, "There is actually a lot of people with blue plaid shirts, so I couldn't find her". I told him not to look behind him, but that she was sitting right there. He thanked me and I left. Who knows what happened, but I found it so interesting that she would actually hang out there after someone had caught her rather poorly executed theft. Wow.

healthy struggle

A long time ago I attempted homemade graham crackers. I thought they were decent tasting, however Cam wasn't a fan. Lately I have been frustrated with myself for the amount of crackers I have been giving the kids. I like to have something in the car that I can quickly get to, hand back to the kids, and keep them content. It's nice to also have something in my backpack in case they get hungry while we are out. I typically keep graham crackers or animal crackers on hand. However I realized that while this isn't candy, it's really not healthy at all. I know fruit is always a good snack, but I like to have something I always keep on hand and doesn't rot after one day.

So today I attempted to make my own crackers using this recipe. Cam tolerates them, but they are SO dense. It makes it difficult for my 4.5 toothed Kendall to chew them easily. I just find it hard to make anything homemade that has that flaky, easily chewable texture. I would love to find a store bought cracker that is healthy...meaning not a regular cracker that they stuffed a few whole grains in and slapped a "healthy" label on it. I want REALLY good for you. Maybe I just need to keep up my hunt.