if you like butterscotch...

We are getting together with Chris' family today for a picnic and I'm bringing some cookies. My favorite dessert combo is peanut butter and chocolate, but a very close second is butterscotch and chocolate. These Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies are very chewy and yummy. They are sweet (I think that is the complaint of some regarding butterscotch), but I just cut them into small bars so it wouldn't be overwhelming for people. Personally I think they are perfect and don't get overwhelmed in the least. :)

*I took the kids to the mall play area yesterday after school. I wonder if that alone is why Cam slept in until 7 this morning, or 7:01 to be exact...Cam always tells us the exact minute he wakes up each morning :) Both he and Kendall played very hard! Afterward we met my parents and Chris at Pat and Oscar's for a belated b-day celebration for Chris. After dinner we had our cake picnic outside by the ducks. At one point Cam sat his plate down on the bench and a duck went after it big time. I really think that was the highlight of Cam's day. He died laughing and wouldn't stop.


*Cam will start a new speech class through the school district next week. It will be twice a week for 90 minutes. I hope Kendall doesn't get tired of parks, because we'll be making our rounds to any and all I can find since we need to stay in the area to pick him up afterward for school.

*My mom, who is a VERY healthy eater, also didn't like my veggie burgers I posted about a few days ago. Sigh. Oh well, I think I'll start buying some just for myself, since my homemade attempt was such a botch.

*Cam is VERY into the states right now. He has three U.S. puzzles that he sometimes does up to 6 times a day. I'm sad to admit that he knows far more than I as to the location of each one. He is working on the capitals now...which I'm also very bad at naming.

*Dinner tonight: Spaghetti

*I've started sneaking flax seed into Kendall's oatmeal each morning. I also do half cream of wheat for the extra iron. I'm so glad she likes this combo. I feel like this is her only really good solid meal of the day. She barely eats at the other meals. I try to make her snacks healthy, but I know she is snacking too much...lending to not much appetite at meals.

*I don't like cold weather.

my pinterests

So if I were to have a Pinterest account, these would be among my to-do's:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake- I LOVE desserts with different textures, so the crunchies on the outside of this caught my attention.



Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Vanilla Sheet Cake



Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cookies: These are SUPER healthy and I'd love to sell the kids on them as an after dinner dessert.



This is a super yummy looking oatmeal bowl. Oatmeal is sooo healthy and not one of Chris' favorite breakfasts. I normally put a little brown sugar and raisins on his, which is a tad blah. I think he would be open to eating it more often if I could find a good recipe or yummy combo of toppings.

saturday tidbits

*Our library had a pumpkin party this morning. I thought the kids would enjoy putting their costumes on early for breakfast out with dad. They did. :)

*They had a wonderful time making crafts, listening to a Halloween story, and playing games. Despite it being Halloween themed, they were the only ones in costume. They didn't seem to mind. :)



*Later I took Cam to a birthday party for a girl in his class. He was in bounce house HEAVEN. It was at Pump It Up, which we had never been to. At one point, all the the kids were ushered into a dark room, with loud techno music, black lights, and laser lights flashing all around. It was sensory overload, if you ask me, so I marvaled at how much my little guy adored it. Ahh...happy mama.


*Hodgepodge dinner tonight for us. My meal? Homemade corn dog. Chris' mom buys them at her school carnival and freezes them for me. They are amazing. I heat them in the microwave and then put them into the George Foreman (to make them crispy). Yum.

*The World Series is on. Usually I'll email or occupy myself with something else while Chris watches sports. Tonight I felt like a movie, but it was slim pickings at Red Box. A little embarrassed to admit that I came home with Blue Crush 2. What was I thinking? We'll see... :)

well...i tried

I mentioned a few days ago that I had an AMAZING veggie burger at the Cheesecake Factory. I was determined to find a recipe and attempt them myself. My disclaimer up front is that I rarely, if ever serve things to Chris that I know he probably won't like. Tonight was the exception, but I was secretly hoping he would enjoy them (however knew that was unlikely). My gut was correct and he didn't like them at all. He forced down half of his burger, while Kendall refused and Cam gave up mid-way.

But I thought they were WONDERFUL and had such a unique and good flavor!!! So, if you like veggie burgers, health food, earthy/wholesome flavored things, these are definitely worth a try. They are quite a bit of work, but I'm just freezing the remaining patties so I can snack on them myself in the coming weeks. :) Here is the recipe (the pic above is from there as well).

I even tried to sweeten the deal by including barbeque sauce, sharp cheddar, a slice of bacon, and a white bun!! But his look says it all...huh? :)

disney afternoon...and loooong evening

We had a wonderful afternoon at Disneyland yesterday with my parents. Despite the crowds, we were able to get on a few rides and go to their favorite play area.



Chris and his brother's all time favorite movie is Dumb and Dumber. Despite many people dressed in costume last night, he was still pleasantly surprised to see his favorite duo. We had to snap a picture. :)


You can see Kendall's arm gently trying to pull Cam out into the dancing. She wouldn't go if he didn't, but he was a little too shy.



After Disneyland, we always debate which freeway to take. We HATE the 91, yet it's the fastest. Well, we made the wrong choice last night. After a few minutes on the road, we came to a standstill...for an hour and a half. There was an officer related shooting which took place, causing two freeways to be halted. It was rather surreal to be playing with the kids...ON THE FREEWAY. Everyone had turned off their engines, lights, and were walking around on their iphones trying to figure out what was going on. Finally they had the cars U-turn and drive backward to an exit. I really can't believe how amazing our kids were. For what the situation was, it couldn't have gone more smoothly for our little ones.

busy weekend

Normally our weekends are pretty uneventful and always begin with Chris and I asking each other, "What should we do?" Without kids this would be an easy question to answer...relax!

Friday I took the kids to meet my mom at the pumpkin patch. They spent the most time in the bounce house, but they did like other things, like climbing around the train, which wasn't running due to very few people there. :)



Saturday morning while Chris was off to his free birthday golf, I picked up my mom and we headed to the Halloween party at Victoria Gardens. They did a really cute job and the kids walked away with two mini pumpkins, some small toys, and a $5 gift card (each!) to a candy store. :)





Yesterday we actually celebrated Chris' birthday by getting to spend the entire afternoon just the two of us. My parents took the kids after church and we headed home to an empty house. We later drove out to the desert, saw a movie, shopped (granted it was at Walmart, but boy was it nice taking my time walking around!), and having dinner at Cheesecake Factory. :)

Conversation after I ordered a veggie burger (much to Chris' dismay):

Me: Wow! Chris, look at the size of this pattie!! It's huge!
Chris: Well, so is a tire but that doesn't mean you should eat it!!

The veggie pattie ended up being a 10+++. It was AWESOME!!!