Halls-O-Ween

I stink at time management

lets just get that out of the way right now

this whole work thing has completely messed up my skills at keeping a home

and a blog

and a shower

and cleaning the bathroom

the list just goes on and on

but I'm determined to make that change

which pretty much means I'm begging the Lord help fix this conundrum and turn me into

one of the fairies from Sleeping Beauty

so let me just give you a quick recap of the last couple weeks

First of all, it rains here

like every day

this shot taken just before the downpour

we'll get dry moments, but goodbye sun, see you next May!

Rain boots are worn daily

and Pumpkin patches are not as fun in the rain and mud

for little girls who don't like getting their pants dirty

however they're a blast

for little girls who love the dirt

and puddles

and mud

I didn't have to work Monday evening, so Pumpkin carving was a must

shirts became optional for one individual

Aidan decided on a costume change the day before Halloween

so a Target run was necessary

our mission was a cowgirl hat

we came home with this pink giant

and it remains glued to her head

its also created an infinite amount of fights between the girls

I'm terrified I may have to go get another one to keep the peace

I made these to get in the Holiday spirit

and cope with the idea of having to buy another sombrero 

No Pinterest recipe followed, but Pinterest worthy in my opinion

2 Tbsp of butter

1 bag of mini marshmallows

4 cups of honeynut cherrios

1 1/2 cups of honey bunches of oats

chocolate sprinkles

and orange sugar sprinkles

melt the butter in a ban on low

add the mini marshmallows and melt down

take of the heat

add your cereal

set in a 9x13 dish

top with sprinkles

and cool

then don't share, like me

or share, either way

The school we live at had a special Halloween event for the kids

Its called Halls-O-Ween, starting with some fun activities, and ending with trick-or-treating at the dorms

The Cowgirl and the Baker made their appearance

and met up with some friends

Halls-O-Ween officially opened

and the girls were off

Aidan took the initiative to show the little ones how it worked

Haley quickly caught on, but became confused between saying

Trick or Treat or Happy Halloween

she eventually decided on just opening her bag and saying

"Halllloooooweeeeeennnn"

which scored her some pretty big candy

Well done, my child.

Granny invited Aidan into her room to show off her lasso

Aidan was way more interested in showing Granny her candy loot

Many thanks to all the staff and students who helped make my kids first

 Halloween in Oregon super fun, and our candy bowl the fullest its every been!

when life feels like a lemon, just add some sugar

I was really trying to be optimistic about going back to work

but inside, I was weeping

the anticipation of saying goodbye to these faces each day, made my heart sink

Wednesday came with a meltdown

some sweet new friends knew it was Jason's birthday week

and graciously offered to babysit so we could get a date

one that was desperately needed

thank you Happy Hour at Red Robin

and thank you to my incredibly sweet and encouraging husband

I felt like after that night, I had made a turn in my anxiety

and the Lord gave me some sweet scripture the next morning from Matthew 6

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. " Matt 6:33-34

And just overnight, instead of dreading leaving the family all day, I was able to just enjoy 

being with them until it was time for me to leave. 

so Thursday Aidan and I hung out upstairs for a while

Friday we went to the park, racing the rain to get there

And today, spent some time at the mall as a family

and I'm feeling much better about leaving to go on my shift in a couple hours

On a separate note

Our new neighbors know how much our family loves Christmas

so they decided to surprise us with some early decorating on our door

a good reminder that Christmas is just around the corner, 

so if you're looking for some super cute gifts

head on over to the Happy Days handmade Holiday Market

i know you'll find something you love

Have a great weekend!

Work Week

Fall has most definitely come to Oregon

the leaves on the ground, and the chill in the wind make me happy

and subtly begs for me to have some cuddle time with my coffee and Parenthood

but it also means that our family will be adjusting to me going back to work

I knew this was going to happen

I had been trying to prepare for it

and now that it is happening, i'm completely anxious

anxious about learning a new set of skills

anxious about leaving my girls for long portions of the day

anxious about losing quality time with my husband

but completely excited about what the Lord is going to teach me through this

and completely grateful to have a job

and completely overwhelmed by God's never ending grace to me

this is yet, another opportunity for me to rely on the Lord

instead of my own strength, which will undoubtedly fail

Happy Monday! Its going to be a great work week!

* And I have no idea why there are double pictures in my blog

PinterTest Kitchen: baked french toast, just do it

Its been an entire year since my friend Jessica started the PinterTest Kitchen link up

Genius, Jess. Absolutely Genius. 

Every month I look forward to it

not only does it push me to actually do some of those ideas I've just categorized on my phone

but i looooooove looking at what everyone else did!

So if you have a blog, jump on in and join the PinterTest Club

its what all the cool kids are doing, and you're a pretty cool kid

This month I did quite a bit

lets start with successes 

1. The Pioneer Woman's Baked French Toast

oh my gosh

oh my gosh

so. good.

first you'll need two helpers to break up a loaf of  bread

PW used Sourdough, I used a French loaf

not sure how big of a diff it makes

just don't use WonderBread, that's not the kind of loaf I'm talkin about

break it up into small chunks and throw it into your greased baking pan

the recipe calls for a 9x13, but I had two helpers and two 9" cake pans so I went for it

next you're going to mix

8 eggs

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

and 2 Tbsp. of vanilla extract

in a bowl

pour this mixture over your bread evenly coating them

set aside and turn on your oven to 350

in a separate bowl mix together

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp of salt

and a stick of cold butter

then cut with a pastry cutter until little pebbles form

sprinkle this topping on your prepared french toast

then throw it in the oven for about 45 min. to 1 hr. 

top it with some warm syrup

and 

OH. MY. GOSH.

2. Lemon Chicken Pasta with Garlic Gravy

you can find the recipe here

but honestly my favorite part of this recipe is the chicken

you'll need some of these

and it comes out lookin like this

you can have it with the pasta and the garlic gravy

but these babies stand on their own

next time I'm doing just doing the chicken 

with a side of baked french toast

3. Pumpkin Brownies

two ingredients

done.

she said bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes

I think I'd make it an hour next time, mine were definitely undercooked

but either way, we ate them all

they're different, denser, grainy-er, kind of like a power bar

but they ain't bad

I had some leftover cream cheese frosting our oreo cupcakes

so we threw in some pumpkin pie spice

and BAM

4. DIY deoderant

lesson learned: don't do it yourself

just buckle up and buy the stuff

and then for goodness sake,

go make PW's Baked French Toast!

Linking up with Jessica

October is here

This is the day I've been waiting for

October 1

I could do without September altogether

the excitement of new school supplies wears off pretty quickly

but Oh October

October means orange and red and brown

and spices

and apples

and cool weather

which means soups

and chili

and pumpkin EVERYTHING

it always comes back to food

which I've been making a lot of

lots of recipes to share on PinterTest Thursday

But this last week has been filled with little adventures

like accidently going to Washington

we were trying to get to Costco

but missed our exit, and uh oh, there you go

George Washington's silhouette on the highway sign was a pretty clear indication we'd gone too far

eventually we back-tracked to Costco and got our ink cartridges filled 

so I could prep for another year of homeschooling

it's only just begun

and she was over it after the first five minutes

but perhaps the biggest thing to happen this week was to go from this

to this

yup, we said goodbye to the training wheels

self-taught in a day

gaining her birthday list a new item

On Thursday we said goodbye to Daddy for a few days

Aidan didn't take it so well

but she cheered right up with a little shopping-therapy

and a new Mickey Salad bowl from a sweet friend

helped ease my pain a little too

to kick off the weekend, I told Aidan we were going to have a Slumber Party

so she informed me of all official Slumber Party activities.

our first assignment was to make Cookies & Cream Oreo Cupcakes which i

had jotted down from Jessica a while ago

which incidentally came from here

Haley was on rolling pin duty

and she rolled like a pro

our next assignment was to play a game

I had printed this Alphabet game board off of Confessions of a Homeschooler

which worked out perfectly, because Haley was able to participate too.

finally, we of course had to watch a movie

I think Haley got to pick, which obviously meant something with Elmo

And then it was lights out

at 11



no more slumber parties.



the next couple days were filled with

playing

parties

and just plain waiting for Daddy to get back

which he did

and we couldn't be happier

because we're just crazy about that guy!