This, That, and the Other

Happy Friday friends!  I don't know what it's like where you live, but today in Minnesota it is about as picture perfect as it gets.  Sunny, blue skies with just a hint of chill in the air...a warm 55 I think?? Just PERFECT weather and a total gift, considering it's November and we could easily have several snows under our belts by now.  Thankfully the Lord is gifting us with incredible Fall days and we are loving them!  Since I've bogged you down lately with all the drama at our house, I thought I'd share some randomly cute things that I don't want to forget, as well as some yummy treats we've been indulging in. 

-The first thing is that out of seemingly nowhere, Ava has taken a big interest in me cooking.  She comes right out to the kitchen when I'm starting dinner and asks if she can pull up a chair and "watch mommy make dinner?"  She's always in my way, but I am so thrilled that she's interested and that we get to have the sweetest little talks while I cook.

She asks me about every little thing I'm doing and gets excited when I ask her to stir something or help me.  Some days I'm not as patient as I should be with her newfound interest, but this is exactly the kind of memory I want her to have, spending time with me in the kitchen.  I haven't made cookies with her yet or any of those fun things, I thought we'd do that over the holidays and with family.  For now she's just as pleased as punch to watch me boil noodles or saute vegetables.

Spending time in the kitchen with my girl, side by side, makes me a happy Mommy. 

I think it's time for some matching mother/daughter aprons, don't you??

-I took this picture, simply because I thought she looked so grown up in this dress and I knew her Texie would like to see her in it.

-More often than not, this is where I find these two playing together the most.  They love the lego basket  and the basket full of toy cars and trucks.  Occasionally it's also the source of some tears and sharing issues, but mostly its's fun to listen to them interact and watch them play.  And yes, Carter would much rather be in his diaper than in clothes.  Trying to get him dressed everyday is the equivilant of wrestling an alligator! 

-This little gypsy likes to move from one part of our house to another, with her entire fleet of strollers, cars, babies, and baskets in tact.  She travels with a major posse and spends a quarter of her day just moving everyone from one place to another, usually away from her brother who does his best to invade her people group.  It's hilarious and also one of those stages I'm trying to support rather than lament over how much of my house is eaten up by her said posse.  Her mothering instincts are in full swing and she keeps herself very busy tending to all her babies needs and providing nonstop commentary on how they are all doing.  Hmmm, I think we're seeing some natural leadership potential in this little girl!

-Remember that picture of those potatoes I showed you from pinterest?  Well I made them!  Aren't they pretty???  They were SOOO good and so easy too.  I preheated the oven to 375 (I think) and then sliced the potatoes in kind of a fan shape, drizzled olive oil and sea salt over them, and then roasted them for about 30 minutes???  I don't know that I really set a timer, I just watched them til they were tender on the inside and crispy on the edges. 

I happened to have some leftover chili in the fridge, so we poured ours with that and ate it for lunch!

Perfect game day food, but I could have totally eaten mine plain OR with some kind of seasoned butter pat on top.  They would be excellent with some blue cheese and a steak or some toppings and even ranch dressing?  Lots of options, but a fun way to eat an old standby.

-I got this new slicer recently that slices my apples into perfect rings in no time!  I also found this recipe on pinterest for apple chips and I've made them a couple of times.  I believe you preheat the oven to 250 degrees, slice your apples, sprinkle them with cinnamon and then bake them.  It said to bake them for 2 hours, but I found mine were done around the hour-hour and a half mark.  I think it depends on how thinly you slice the apples and how crispy you like them.

They are so good coming out of the oven!  Great after school snack AND it makes your house smell wonderful!!

-We got our family picture updated for the Church directory recently and I couldn't keep my eyes off this handsome little guy!  That sweater was so precious on him, I thought he looked so old.

And yes, he's playing with a diaper.

Is he cute or what??

-This is a common pose for Miss Ava these days. 

...Hands on her hips, telling us a few things...

Wonder where she ever got that???

-Travis' only request in the fall, is that we roast pumpkin seeds.  We did it for the first time a few years ago and we're surprised at how much we liked snacking on them.  So although it's always a good deal of work, he loves it and eventually I get on board and make it happen with him. 

Thanks to pinterest, this year we got fancy.

This was option #1- Curry and Sea Salt

It. Was. Incredible.  I would buy 4 more pumpkins just to make these again.  I have forgotten how much  I love curry.  Even Travis was surprised at how good they were!

Option #2- Butter and Sea Salt.

Can you ever go wrong with butter???  Delicious.

Option #3- Sweet and Spicy (Cayenne pepper, sugar and salt)

This was the recipe Trav was dying to make and it didn't disappoint.  He really loved this one and it had a good bite to it.  I wouldn't know though, I could hardly keep my hands out of the curry seeds to notice.

-Along with watching me cook, lately Ava and I have been doing lots of coloring together.  I think maybe she's getting some of my artistic genes and I am quite happy about it!  The night before Halloween, I decided I needed to do something with our pumpkins but didn't have the steam to carve them and Travis was basically over the whole thing now that he had his seeds :) So I started to draw on them with a black sharpie, then quickly decided that was a lame idea and I should have just left them alone.

HOWEVER, it took all of 5 minutes for Ava to ask me if she could color a pumpkin too.  Normally I would have quickly said no, then explained about the permanent marker, etc., but she was so interested again that I found myself telling her yes.  I had several little ones so I got her all set up with her own pen and this little artist was in her glory.  She sat with me for about 30 minutes, carefully turning her pumpkin and making all kinds of lines and markings on it.  It was precious and made my night. 

In my head this was going to be so much cuter. 

I'm showing you the good side.  Trust me on that.

Carty's was cute.  Should have just stuck with the polka dot theme :)

Not a stellar year :)

I'm going to give myself a grace pass considering our month!

The 2 sweetest pumpkins in our house.

Wish it wasn't going to get moldy, I'd keep it forever :)

-My fall bucket list is quickly getting filled up and I'm so thankful!  In the midst of our crazy October, we made some sweet family memories and we still have time to do some more. 

As November kicks off, I am thankful and grateful for ALL that the Lord is doing in our lives.  Good, bad and ugly, we are learning new things and making the best of this season in our lives. 

Because it's a season full of blessings and I get to share it with my best friend. 

I love him like crazy by the way.  Out of all this stress, I love what the Lord is doing in our marriage.  Good things from hard days...that's the best! 

Anyway, Happy Friday to you all!