Camping!

A few weeks back, Ryan and the girls set up camp in our backyard. Totally roughing it...DVD player and all.

While Ryan was setting up the tent, I caught Neeley looking at her reflection in the back door window. Here are only a few images. I'm not sure what she is wearing on her head, but whatever...

Busted!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"If you had a choice between pie heaven and regular heaven, I would choose pie heaven. It's probably a trick, but if not....MMMM boy." Jack Handy

I know I'm behind on many many things, but I'm still in the process of trying to figure out how to transfer my pictures onto this computer. Should have that solved today or tomorrow, but in the mean time...enjoy pie!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What a video! Go Church! Seriously, this is an amazing little video that caused us to laugh and ponder on the OPPORTUNITIES we all enjoy as a result of challenges and trials. Gratitude is a powerful thing and the ability to be grateful always is an even more powerful thing. How THANKFUL we are this year for the abundance of blessings in our lives. We wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

It bit the dust

Our computer finally pooped out on us. URG. As we speak, I am at the library trying to get a few things taken care of on the internet. I never knew how DEPENDANT I have become on our computer. What was life like before computers?
Anyway, be patient with us until we get this computer thing put together.
More to come....

Neener

Every family has one. You know, the child who constantly keeps you on your toes. Meet ours-
I have no idea how her brain functions, but her logic makes me laugh out loud. In the last hour, she has informed me that
1. Ms. Kathy (her teacher) lives in Boston thats why it takes her a really long time to get to work every day. AND
2. (my favorite) Cinderella wears gloves to the ball because she has sweaty hands and doesn't want the prince to get dirty.

While on our recent trip north, she got a hold of the camera and had herself quite a photo session. Imagine my surprise when I downloaded about 2 dozen of the following photo.
Oh my.

I'm not gonna lie. I LOVE myself a good pasta. The Atkins program was certainly not designed around my lifestyle. I dream about this pasta. SO simple and absolutely delicious.

Baked Lemon Pasta

1 pound thin spaghetti

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 lemon

2 cups sour cream

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired

Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese

Flat leaf parsley, chopped

Extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT.When butter is melted, add minced garlic.Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top.Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley.Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.

Note: recipe and photo come from a GREAT blog: www.thepioneerwoman.com

Isn't Halloween over?

Our week was entirely consumed by all things spooky. From the pumpkin walk at school, all the Halloween/fall parties, carving pumpkins, and eating our weight in candy, we are glad to finally put the Halloween box away!

Neeley was constantly asking to make pumpkin seeds so I deemed it her job to gather them up, put them in a bowl and clean them off. Here is cleaning:

And cleaning some more...

aaaannnndddd cleaning some more...

Like I said before, she is a little OCD about cleaning. I think she secretly just loved to feel the slimy pumpkin seeds and wasn't interested in cleaning out the pumpkin. Meanwhile, Ryan was doing all the dirty work.

I think we have hit a milestone in our lives. The girls didn't want anything to do with dressing up as princesses! WOOOHOO!! On the other hand, Hattie was excited about this new darker attitude and, with dad's help, carved herself a skull. And dressed as a devil. And thoroughly LOVED every spooky house we visited.

One of our favorite halloween traditions? Getting together with cousins Sophie and Ellie and trick or treating to our favorite neighborhood.

Even though Hattie was completely enthralled in the "dark side," Neeley didn't venture too far out of her princess comfort zone and opted to be an angel.

Westy was Hattie's little minion but couldn't keep the horns on long enough for a picture.

Hattie embracing her dark side. Can you believe she just walked up to this stranger and wanted her picture taken? What is going on here? I never thought I would see the day!

Neeley doing what she does best: Eating candy!