Happy Halloween!

Last night was Beggar's Night which means Trick or Treating night in Iowa.  Why we trick or treat the night before Halloween?  I'm not exactly sure, but I was really glad to have Beggar's Night fall on a weekend! Amelia went trick or treating with her posse of friends, but she was a little wound up and hardly knew what to do with all that energy.  Here's Amelia and the gang....

Of course Ava went out with her very best friend - enjoying a beautiful evening.

Earlier in the day John and the girls carved their pumpkins - based on the condition of some of the jack-o-lanterns I saw around the neighborhood, I was glad they waited!  

Amelia's....

Ava's....

While the John and the girls carved their pumpkins I made dinner to officially welcome Meghan home.  We had chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes - her request - YUM! After making it several times I think this was the best batch, plus Ava loves it in her thermos for school.  For dessert I made Annie's Eats Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake and let me tell you it is worth every single fussy step.  The end result is like the texture of a light pumpkin pie with all the richness and taste of cheesecake.  Delish!!!!

Today construction begins on hardwood in our living room.  Once again we are cramming furniture in every available space in our house. Here's our couch and TV in the kitchen where they belong, right?!  Orbit thinks so!

Festivities

John and Meghan and making their way East to  (Middle) West all day today - having decided to drive it straight through they will be home in he wee hours tonight/tomorrow.  I thought I was going to have much of the weekend to myself with the girls.  I thought we might take a mini-break, maybe go to a hotel pool with a water park and snuggle in, enjoy a stay-cation.  Dance class, the local Halloween parade, Sunday school and the Hot Chocolate 5K conspired against a night away - even a local night away, but I still really wanted to make the day fun. 

In between all our Saturday morning dance classes we went to the Halloween parade on the town square. It is just as quaint as it sounds.  Most of the shops open their doors to trick or treaters and there is even a doggie parade.  Since we have a dachshund there is simply no way to avoid dressing him as a hot dog, right?  Poor dog - he actually looks embarrassed. Orbit pretty much hated his costume.  Once we took it off he loved trotting around the square with Papa, Grandma and the girls.  He is never happier then when he is fully incorporated into the festivities....

Dance, Halloween parade, Dance, Lunch more Dance... as if that wasn't enough we set off for Des Moines to continue our fun day.  We saw "Puss and Boots" in 3D ($14 each - holy crap!), picked up a couple of cute t-shirts, some bubble gum flavored lip gloss and then had some pizza for dinner.  The pizzariea messed up our order, so we have leftovers until sometime next week.  The girls crash landed hard into bed just now -  for all of us it was a really fun day.

After kind of a bumpy morning yesterday morning I told the girls we were going to focus on treating each other with kindness and gratitude while their father was away. Anytime they fussed at each other I would ask, "are you being kind to each other?"  When we were at the restaurant I talked about being grateful to the people who were cooking our food, serving us.  When there was a mistake in our order we talked about being kind - because we all make mistakes and hope that we are treated kindly when we do. There was some eye-rolling, but there also were flickers of understanding.

Tonight when I was putting Amelia to bed she told me she was grateful for the day, that she couldn't possibly pick a favorite part because they were all her favorite. I feel exactly the same way.

Amelia, rockin' the 3D glasses.  Totally worth the $14, right?!

Re-do and a Preview

So the carpet in our highest traffic room, the living room, looks terrible.  It looks like we've been parking cars in there or something.  The carpet is almost six years old, it was cheap when we put it in and it has weathered spills and Orbit's house training.  In short it was time to replace it.... See for yourself.  (BTW, most of those spots pre-date the dog....)

So what are we replacing it with?  That's right, the last 300 square feet in Phillips Floors inventory of the hardwood we put in our kitchen and hallway this Spring. The wood's been delivered and is curing in our front room. I am warming to the idea of our whole main floor being hardwood. I guess I better get warmer - work starts Monday!

Tonight the girls went to Kid Fit Friday at the gym, where they had a Halloween costume party.  Here's the trick or treat preview - Amelia as Millie from Team Umi Zoomi - isn't she something?! So proud of the costume she and Grandma Jo worked on together.... She's got mighty math powers!

Ava, who envisioned her costume months ago, went as a mad scientist.  She had me poof out her hair (not that difficult) and smudge her face like there'd been an explosion in her lab.  With the help of her Papa Ray and Grandma Jo she rounded up a lab coat, borrowed from a friend and sported my dad's old glasses. She said, as we were leaving, "I look just like I thought I would, thank you mom."  She won best costume at the party tonight...

John flew out early this morning to Connecticut  to drive back with Meghan.  We get Meghan back!!!!  She'll stay with us for a bit while she firms up full time employment - we are thrilled to have her on her way back home.  I took advantage of the quiet house to... clean out my closet. Now that's a sad, sad state of affairs!  What did I learn in the closet cleaning?  I absolutely cannot buy any more sweaters.  But I must buy some pants.

Flashback

When I was in third grade I visited the White House for the first time.  Jimmy Carter was President, my dad was appointed to a Board or panel that met in DC and so he took us on a trip.  A part of our White House tour included seeing President Carter sign a bill related to Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.  I remember my dad nudging me, telling me I would need to be sure to remember this.  I remember getting our picture taken with President Carter.  I remember strolling around the White House grounds, looking in the windows of the Oval Office and seeing the President reading the newspaper (no way that could ever happen now).  I have very few memories from that time of my life that are as vivid as that trip. 

My mother saved the outfit I wore to the White House - a spiffy denim jumper from Montgomery Ward.  As she was cleaning out her storage area she passed it to me.  I thought, "what am I ever going to do with this?" Today Ava wore it to church - how fabulous is she in all her retro glory?! I'm so glad she saved it and that I did too. 

Standing Guard

Ava and her friends frequently play a game that involves creating a pretend castle.  They lay out blankets, lawn chairs and weave elaborate fantasies about their pretend kingdom. Orbit simply adores playing with them and has been christened the palace guard. He takes his role very seriously, protecting these girls, standing guard.  At times it almost looks like he understands it is a game. Today the girls made him a crown... A promotion of sorts to the palace prince dog. There's very little dignity, but I still think he enjoys playing with the girls!

Tonight we are going to dinner at some friend's house.  I wanted to bring a clever hostess gift, but nothing was really coming to mind.  I was surfing around on the computer looking for dinner ideas this week and stumbled on a recipe for spiced nuts.  Huummm....  A quick check of the freezer revealed several bags of nuts (Costco, Boy Scouts etc....) and our rosemary is still going bonkers so I decided this was just the thing to bring.  This recipe is mostly from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, although I did make some adaptations to incorporate a couple of other recipes I found. Oh my goodness these are good - sweet, a little spicy, salty - I am totally making these again!

Spiced Rosemary Mixed Nuts

3 cups of whole cashews (many recipes say unsalted,  I used salted because that's what I had)
3 cups whole pecan halves
2 cups whole almonds
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons ground chipotle powder (this is the spicy - it may seem like a lot, but it just gives the nuts a nice heat, it doesn't blow you away)
3-4 tablespoons rosemary finely minced
2 teaspoons worescheshire
Salt

Preheat the oven to 350.

Rub a large sheet pan with vegetable oil.

In a large bowl combine the nuts, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, the syrup, brown sugar, orange juice, 2 teaspoons (or so) of salt, 2 tablespoons (or so) of rosemary (reserving some), woreschesire and chipotle powder.  Stir gently, but combine well.  Pour out onto the sheet pan  and spread out in a single layer.  Roast for approximately 25 minutes, stirring two or three times during cooking. After you remove them from the oven, taste and add more salt if you want and sprinkle with a little bit more of the fresh rosemary.

Serve warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Note: Many recipes called for walnuts - I didn't have any, so I didn't use them and adjusted accordingly. Use any combination you would like.

I packed them up in a quart sized mason jar to bring to our guests tonight.  I am really glad there's still a bunch left for us to eat!

Seasonal

The changing of the seasons totally inspires my cooking.... In the summer I crave tomatoes, corn, fresh herbs - at Christmas I look for chocolate, cream, mint, mashed potatoes, in the Spring asparagus, lemons... but Fall is my very favorite and Fall means pumpkin.  Every time I go to the grocery store I pick up a few cans of pumpkin.  I love it in sweets and I love it in savory dishes as well, but I have new favorite, Pumpkin Snickerdoodles. I got the recipe from my very favorite cooking blog, Annie's Eats, and have made them twice.  The first time I made them I followed the recipe carefully, the second time I made them I got a little heavy handed with the spices and added some cloves.  Both were fantastic.  Make them!  You won't be sorry.  

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Yield: about 3-4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

3¾ cups all-purpose flour

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

¾ cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

Dash of allspice

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the pumpkin puree.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated.  With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend.  Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball.  Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.  Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly.  Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.  

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through.  Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  Store in an airtight container.

How Are We Going to do This?

Two parents who work full time, two girls who go to school in two different places, we live in a city that is approximately 30 minutes from where we work... It doesn't happen too often, but from time to time we are caught flat footed with "how are we going to do this?"  Frankly it should be surprising that it doesn't happen more often. 

Lucky for us my parents live just a few miles away and are generous with their offers of help and support.  And today was just one of those days.  John and I didn't communicate well and we both ended up with non-negoiable early morning commitments.  Papa Ray and Grandma Jo to the rescue.  We were able to take the girls to their house early (a few minutes before 7:00am) where they were fed French toast, eggs and unconfirmed reports of some ice cream for breakfast.  Then Papa Ray delivered the girls safely to their appointed destinations at a reasonable hour.  Relief....

Suddenly the weather has become cold, blustery.  Yesterday when I arrived home the temperature in our house was 64 degrees.  The furnace went on for the first time this season.  Tonight when I pulled in the driveway I caught a brief glimpse of the long Winter in front of us and thought "what are these girls going to do all Winter?"  We get increasingly spoiled by the outside time, roaming the neighborhood with their friends.

A few neighborhood friends played inside with the girls while I warmed up leftovers for dinner.  (These Swedish Meatballs, which are beyond divine and Ava's new, very favorite). Ava's bestie Jessica joined us for dinner and then dessert.  I grilled some pineapple on the indoor grill and topped it with some softened Nutella.  It was a giant hit...  A whole pineapple devoured by the girls with only the cost of a little Nutella. 

I suppose we do this the same way we always have...

Aha!

Sunday has arrived again and we've managed to cram all kinds of things into our home days. Earlier this summer John noticed a small, maybe frisbee sized, sink hole in our front yard.  When his brother Brian was visiting Brian suggested calling the city utilities to see if it was related to our water/sewer.  Indeed it was and the city came out to "repair" the hole while I was gone.  You will recall the hole was approximately the size of a frisbee.  Now there's a huge pile of dirt in our front yard.  They told John they will be coming to back to "landscape" the spot after the dirt settles.  Settles into what?

Yesterday John, aka Appleseed, decided to welcome Fall by baking an apple pie.  Recalling all the times his Grandma Ada baked him a pie, he turned out this beauty.  It is (ok, was) delicious!

This morning I went to Des Moines to cheer on my good friend Molly who was running the Des Moines marathon.  It was a ton of fun to watch the runners and, at times, I got kind of emotional recalling my own race two weeks ago.  When I got back from the race and the grocery store Ava was sound asleep on the couch.  She hasn't napped in... years...  especially not on a beautiful day when her friends were all outside riding bikes.  Hmmm....  What you can't see in this picture is Orbit, curled up under her arms, under the blanket, standing guard and napping with his person....

Orbit had his first doggy birthday party invitation - our neighbors were throwing a puppy party for their dog.  All the neighborhood dogs (and their kids) gathered at the dog park.  Here's Orbit, enjoying his puppy treat....

No concept whatsoever of the size differential.... Orbit chases Zoe around the dog park.

While we were at the puppy party Ava crashed and said she didn't feel well.  Of course she didn't.  We came straight home where she sprouted a fever and has hung out on the couch watching tv and dozing.  It was a slightly chilly, breezy day so I made some lentil soup, which simmered away while I taught Spinning this evening.  John and I are making plans to divide the day tomorrow, hopefully Ava will rally quickly - this week is her Fall break and her child care has all kinds of fun field trips planned!

On the Road

I am wrapping up a quick trip to Washington, DC for work meetings.  It is always wonderful to be back in this great city.  It has been a great couple of days talking with colleagues, catching up with old friends.  Wednesday night I was walking back to the hotel from the Metro and stopped to take this picture on my phone.  I never get tired of seeing these incredible sights! 

All reports are that John and the girls had a very nice time.  They had an impromtu home day yesterday since Ava is on Fall break.  I got this in my email yesterday afternoon...

John and the girls have their own traditions when I am gone.  One of them has been dinner at a local restaurant for fried ravioli. While I enjoyed the swanky Graffiato for dinner with a long time friend I got this picture from John....

Trips like this are fun, necessary, good... but I am really glad to be pointed in the direction of home.

How long?

We have had the longest streak of beautiful weather!  How is it October and we still have our air conditioning on?  Tonight was another night where the girls begged to eat their dinner on the deck.  Nooooo problem....  Since I had a late-ish meeting tonight I planned Rootbeer Pulled Pork sandwiches for dinner, perfect for eating outside.  And apparently perfect for making silly faces when I came to take a picture....

Lane returns to Mississippi early tomorrow morning.  We wish him safe travels and quick returns....

Mighty Math Powers

Amelia's day care is affiliated with the federal government, so they are closed on all the federal holidays.  Columbus Day sneaks up on me every.single.year!  Papa Ray and Grandma Jo were kind enough to take Amelia for the day, a fact that she has been holding over Ava's head for the past few days.  

Since about July Amelia has been asking to be Milli from Team Umi Zoomi for Halloween.  Apparently Nickelodeon licenses every character they put on TV except the Umi Friends.  There isn't a Milli costume to be found.  They are kind enough to put directions for how to make a Milli costume on their website.  Too bad Amelia doesn't have a mom who possesses those kind of skills.  But..... lucky for her.... she has a Grandma who does.

Grandma Jo sized up the Milli project and decided Nickelodeon had made itboth too flimsy (cardboard was involved) and too difficult. So she made Amelia a dress (because Milli has pattern power) and a Milli hood.  They spent much of the day yesterday gluing on the flowers.  Amelia is beside herself with joy to have such a fantastic costume (Halloween can't come soon enough) and I think Grandma Jo probably wishes her oldest daughter had some kind of crafting skills!!

Here they are working on the Milli costume....

Passions

Yesterday was another glorious day here in the great state - a perfect day for a golf outing for John, Lane and Ava.  They were invited to play Echo Valley by our dear friends Bill and Annie.  By all accounts it was a fantastic day.....

I got to enjoy some one on one time with Amelia - nothing special, a trip to the grocery store, a trip to the park, but it was very pleasant to have that quiet time to enjoy her.

I promised I'd be talking about this for awhile....  I ordered a copy of this picture from the Twin Cities Marathon.  It captures almost exactly how I felt crossing the finish line....

To keep motivated we've got a couple of fun races on the horizon.  First up, the Living History Farms Off Road Race on November 19th where we will be joined by Brian and Hilary.  I know it will be a total blast!  Since they're coming to us in November, we'll go to them in May for the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon.  That's right, all four of us racing the half.  Which means we all have to be in half marathon shape in May.  It is going to be awesome!

Tis the Season

Each Fall we make at least one trip to the pumpkin patch.  You can see past examples here... and here... and here.... Today it remains unseasonably warm for October and a perfect day to enjoy the festivities.  Despite the pleas to bring friends along on the trip we made the trip with just the girls.  Friends are very important, but we were reminded today of how nice they can be to each other as sisters and how important that time together is for all of us.  

Here I can only presume Ava was channeling our beach vacation and burying Amelia in a vat of dried corn....

Climbing the big log...

Getting so big....

I'm not sure what they were looking at, but I am looking at how beautiful they are....

Sweet girls....

The pumpkin patch has added a tractor corn Indy course,  Amelia wasn't quite tall enough or strong enough to get the self-propelled go carts going on her own, but she loved the ride with a little assist from Dad....

Ava making laps around all the other kids!

Making their way through the corn maze, holding hands, breaking my heart....

Mighty, Mighty Mimi

Tonight Amelia decided was the night to loose her training wheels.  With the help of her dad, her big sister and her big brother she gave it a valiant effort, but her balance just isn't quite there.  Of course, we are not going to put the training wheels back on!! Our mighty, mighty girl will have none of it!

An assist from John with a tilty bike!  (And today was pajama day at school, we don't normally let our children roam the neighborhood in their jammies.) 

Passing back and forth between dad and Lane....

Allllmmmooooosssttt there....

Too Long

Everyone is happy to have Lane home...

Yeah, I Might Be Talking About This For Awhile

Full recap of the Twin Cities Marathon can be found here.  I mean, why use 1 word, when you can use 10?! I love this picture John took of me and the girls, after I managed to compose myself at the end of the race.  I hope I made them proud....

John and the girls drove home from Minnesota Sunday afternoon after a long day of chasing me around the course.  I was too wiped to make the drive, so I imposed on Brian and Hilary for one more day and headed home Monday morning. I spent a few hours at home, attempting to restore some order before the end of the school day.  My mother picked Orbit up and took him for a long walk on the trail.  So this is pretty much how he spent the rest of his afternoon....

Tonight it is unseasonably warm and so, so beautiful.  The girls were outside until the last possible bit of sunlight was gone, playing with their friends...  Leftovers for dinner!

Did I mention I ran a marathon on Sunday?  My friend Molly bought me this sticker as an enticement, a reward, a motivator after a long, hard training run.  I know it might be a little bit (ok, a lot) obnoxious, but I love it and it makes me feel happy and proud every time I look at it.

Finisher

Today I finished my first marathon... the Twin Cities Marathon.  It was an incredible experience.  But no, I did not look like this the whole way through!  Here's me and Megan at mile 8.  More to follow...