Updates as promised....

1)

My updates....

The pumpkin bars were gross. Weird texture. Not sweet enough. Not enough frosting in the world to fix that mess. Pitched.
2) The pumpkin carving was fun. The roasted seeds were gross. Pitched. Haha. Noticing a trend?
3) Trick or treating was perfect. So fun, the kids loved it and Grady remembered to say both "trick or treat" and "thank you" at almost every house. He also was shameless about asking for a treat for his sissy as well. (She was riding in the wagon.) Thus, we have double the candy that we've been denying to the kids yet eating like it's going out of style ourselves........no more candy!!! Happy Halloween!! :)

Carving pumpkins and making bars!

Happy Halloween!! We have recovered from a lost costume snafu and are ready for trick or treating today! (In case you missed my Facebook post...we could not find Grady's costume for his Halloween party at preschool Friday. Searched high and low and at the last minute, decided to throw him in swim trucks, a t, and goggles and call him "swimmer man." Grady actually loved it, BUT since finding his Spiderman costume (in the bottom drawer of my dresser, under some workout clothes) he has not let it out of his sight! He slept with it last night, and when he couldn't find it in the middle of the night, he called me until I came up and dug it out of the tangled sheets. I suppose that's fair.)

Anyway, I digress. This post is about the fun things we're up to today and the yummy treats that I am making! I thought today would be another working Saturday (like last week, when we took another tree down) but it turned out to be free. So this morning we carved up some pumpkins...Josh and Grady worked on one, Kingsley and I on the other. I don't think you would have any trouble figuring out who did which! Josh and Grady made a scary face, while Miss K and I carved an H into ours. Pictures to follow.

Of course I had to do something with those pumpkin seeds! I am trying my hand at roasting them for the first time. Here's the process I am following....scoop them out, de-gunk as much as possible, then boil for about 10 minutes to further separate gunk from seeds. Did all that, now have the seeds spread out on a cookie sheet to dry for about 24 hours. Then, I'm going to mix them in 2 T. melted butter and 1 t. of garlic salt and roast for, I think, 45 min at 350. I heard they are DELISH hot...we'll have to see!!

I am also making pumpkin bars..I would love to say it's from the pumpkin as well, but that's just not true! Canned all the way...I have no idea how they go from the pumpkin to the canned stuff, but I don't think I have that in me. :) I replaced the cup of oil with a cup of applesauce (holla, Claire!) and reduced the sugar by a half cup. Now, I don't know how to go about frosting them...or should I not?

The kids cannot wait for trick or treating tonight!! I have a little Spiderman and a little purple dragon. Pictures to follow, as well as a report on my treats! Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday I decided to get into the Halloween spirit a bit and make some mummy cupcakes with Grady. I actually made the cupcakes while he was resting and left them bare for him to decorate. I decided to be sneaky and give them a healthy makeover. I have made muffins before with a spiced cake mix and canned pumpkin or pie filling instead of the eggs and oil that it calls for. This time, I had a couple of over-ripe bananas on the counter that I decided to use instead. I simply beat the cake mix and bananas together until thick and smooth. I put them into 12 cupcake liners and baked for around 18 minutes total at 350. They came out sweet and dense and the tops just slightly crunchy. Yum! Then I let Grady decorate with white frosting (since it was a mummy, we just needed a few stripes!) and two M&M's for the eyes. Absolutely delish! He loved them. I did too. I had three....oops. :)

Grady is really excited about Halloween. It's so fun that he remembers and understands things now. He was talking about going trick or treating the other day and is really looking forward to it. He will be Spiderman, and Kingsley is going as a Purple Monster. Pictures to follow. :)

Grady's best friend.

It's not Kingsley. If you ask Grady who his best friend is, it's AVA, the sweet little girl who lives across the street. I think it's mutual too...look at this pic from last night.

Grady and Ava go to preschool together, and every day when I pick him up we have roughly the same conversation.

Me: Grady, how was school?

Grady: Good.

Me: What did you do?

Grady: Played with AVA!

Me: What did you play with?

Grady: Blocks. (Or xylophone or trains or cars or "upstairs") WITH AVA!!!!!

He also asks if she can come home with us practically every day. So cute! I am a little worried though, for the day that Ava is sick and misses preschool. I don't know if Grady knows any other kids' names! (I hear Darren every once in awhile, who is also an adorable little boy. Maybe we'll have to have a playdate with his mommy to make sure that Grady has 2 friends.) :)

Also - Ava loves MaKingsley, as she says. Soooo cute. She is welcome at our house any time.

IN OTHER NEWS....I am officially back to my pre-babies weight. WAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!! Well, my pre-baby "high"....you know how things fluxuate a bit??? It still feels good though!! Everything in my closet fits...and some stuff is (gasp) too big! My goal is to weigh what I did when I started dating Josh. 6-7 lbs to go!

Yum

In other news, this is what's for supper tonight. Assuming that spinach in my fridge is still good...ish.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake
8 oz uncooked rigatoni
1 T olive oil
1 c chopped onion
1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed
3 c cubed, cooked chicken breasts
1 (14 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
1 (8 oz) container Philadelphia chive & onion cream cheese
½ t salt, ½ t pepper
1½ c shredded mozzarella cheese
Prepare rigatoni according to pkg directions. Spread oil
on bottom of 11x17 in baking dish; add onion in a single layer. Bake at 375 for
15 minutes or just until tender. Transfer onion to large bowl, set aside.
Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper
towels. Stir in rigatoni, spinach, chicken, & next 4 ingredients into onion
in bowl. Spoon mixture into dish & sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella
cheese. Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes; uncover & bake 15 more minutes
or until bubbly.

Where's the coffee???

Well, look at this. I can write in different fonts. I can write in different sizes. I can make the text different colors! Who would have thought?? Kind of fun to mess around with!

My eyeballs are buuurrrrrnnnninnng today. Seems like the kids gang up on me in the sleep department sometimes. The past few nights have been bad. Then last night I was up with Grady twice only to lay back down and hear Kingsley start crabbing too! I waited it out, sure that Josh would eventually give in and go up to her. Which he did. Then he proceeded to bring her downstairs. Whhhat?? No. Babies don't get to come downstairs at 4:30 am!! Back to bed she went, back to bed we went and that's where I stayed...until 5:20 when Josh couldn't find ice packs for his lunch. Up I went, then back down. Until 5:24 when he couldn't find his keys. Ugh! And this is my long day, with a night class tonight. Hopefully tonight goes better! Mama needs some slllllllllllllllllleeeeeep!

My baby boy is growing up!

My baby boy is growing up! I posted this on my Facebook status today but wanted to share the story here, too.

I was calling to schedule a doctor's appointment this morning. The receptionist said, "Who is it for" and I said, "Grady Heimann." Grady whipped around from watching TV and said, "Mom! I didn't do anything!!" Someone is used to getting the last name when he is in trouble! Even the receptionist was cracking up.

Seriously, though! Where did my baby go? He's been replaced by this smart, endearing, silly little boy. Yesterday, Kingsley, Grady and I were playing duplos (large Legos) after I got home from work. (Love having a job that lets me come home early enough in the afternoon to play blocks with my kids!) He....yes, GRADY...realized that she liked pulling apart stacks of the duplos so he started building stacks and handing them to her. Then he realized that if he clicked them all the way together, she couldn't always get them apart. So he started building stacks "looser" and handing her those. I don't know who was enjoying her pulling them apart more, him or her! It was sooooo sweet. I got up, got dinner in the oven (chicken breasts stuffed with chive and onion cream cheese then tied with a piece of bacon and squash if you are interested, and it was delish AND still somehow weight watchers friendly!), and came back and they were STILL at it. Prec! Love those sweet moments!

Josh's new business card! If you have any trees that need to be cut down or cleaned up, give him a call!

I love my husband!

This weekend was Sara Sheerer's bachelorette party. Josh was fabulous before, during and after the party in helping me out!! We both cleaned the house on Saturday...he washed our windows, letting Grady "help" and they look amazing. During the party he watched the kids and put them to bed. He provided transportation for people into the wee hours. And THEN he even got up with the kids and took them downstairs so I could sleep in the next morning! Now, granted...I think he owes me a little bit in the sleep dept, but this was awesome!!

Sidenote: The party was also a blast! Congrats Sara and Jeff!

Had to post a picture of Grady too!!

How cute is she???? We got to pick pumpkins and play in leaves at a friend's house yesterday afternoon. The leaves where the kids favorite part!! :)

Two bunches of flowers....

Last night Josh showed up with two bunches of flowers. As he walked towards me with them, I imagined all the sweet things that he was going to say. "You're a great mom...these are from Grady and these are from Kingsley." Or something to that effect. Instead, he hands them to me and says this: "Here. They were 2 for $10, so I figured why not and got you 2. Oh, and they are because you were stressed at work....last week." Hahah. I love Josh. I appreciated that more than any cheesey line. :) The flowers were a fall bouquet. Not sure how to post pictures yet on this fancy dancy blog thing...

Better late than never....

How long have I been saying I'd like to start a blog to keep track of our family activities?? Today is the day, coming off a busy weekend. This past gorgeous October weekend we....

-went on a date (just Josh and I)

-took the kids to an apple orchard with Aunt Annie and Uncle Nick

-did a picnic in the park

-played with Meemaw and Papa and Uncle Jeff

It was perfect!! Tonight we're going to head up to Waverly and get a swingset for the kids from Aunt Barb's neighbor. Hopefully we can do a quick visit with them too!

Downfalls?? Last night I was up with a very energetic Kingsley from 1:45-4:30. The weekend messed up her schedule. Annnnnnnd....at 17 months old, she can say "juice, uh-oh, hi, bye, baby, kitty, papa, daddy, see ya, gookie (yes, gookie), this"....and I think there is more. But who am I?? Still DADDY!!! Ugh!!