Five more days till Halloween!!!!!!

The count down has begun and Madison asks daily "Is it Halloween yet?" She practices trick or treating with her bucket and tries on her costume every other day...lol !!! Never was a child more excited about collecting candy...you would think she never got any....geez! So the other day I decide to try to take some picture of the two them in their costumes. Maddie was more than happy to put on her costume...and so was Lauren. However one of my children was NOT HAPPY about posing for a photo...can you guess which one??? After this one I have another with her eyes closed and another with a hand over her face. Oh the tortured life of a scrapbooker's child!!! Oh well we will have to try again...muuuuwwaaha..ha.

I know I'm evil that way!

Here is a fun site for the kids to practice carving a pumpkin: http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

Mi Vida Loca!!!

My life has been CRAZY lately!!! I feel exhausted and I just cant "catch up" with life. I try to do my best but lately its pooping me out! I did a great scraping day with Alex on Friday. I was nice to relax and do some pages while gabbing. We even had lunch and shopped...a full girls day indeed. I took some great pictures of the girls the other day and thought I would share one of them. This is Madison making her "Mean Face" as she calls it...lol She may think she looks mean but I think she looks adorable!! She is quite tough though ...I must admit!! Last week she accidentally spilt open my lip and hit me in the head with a shovel....tee hee! I 'm fine really ....but I thought I had a brain tumor or concussion afterwards.... No worries I'm back to normal....or am I??? lol

Someone to hold my hand...

Looking over my shoulder this morning I noticed my two daughters holding hands. We were on our way to school just like any other day. The sight of the two of them together was a sweet surprise that brought a tear to my eye. I realized they had to stretch across the seat to reach each other and how they so gently cradled the others hand. It was their secret little way...their way of showing the other sister how much she loves her. Someone to hold their hand on the way to school and let the other sister know "I'm here for you". How wonderful...how lucky...how special to have someone as loving as your sister to hold your hand through life.

Pumpkin Hunting!!

Today we took the kidlets to Underwood Farms Harvest Festival. The kids had a great time feeding all the animals and riding the ponies. We tried to do the corn maze but were afraid we would lose Lauren (shes a dare devil lately) and would never be able to find her. We went out into the pumpkin patch and picked out some nice plump pumpkins. As the day went on it got warmer and more crowded. We headed home and decorated the house in cob webs and Halloween monsters. Madison was really into the decorating and was trying to direct her Daddy on how things should go....lol!! Lauren was a bit wary of the scary decorations but she jumped into putting her touch on the house with plastic spiders and bats... too cute!

Making Meatballs

Whats for dinner at your house?

Well at our place its meatballs!!! Yes we recently found this TO DIE FOR recipe and since then this has become my number one requested meal in the house. Its from the joy of cooking and I got it from Cathy Z. blog but either way I will share it with you. My secret ingredient is really good red wine. We are loving Wolf Blass Cabernet (Australian) right now. It tastes amazing in the meatballs and fabulous in a glass....I highly recommend it.

CLASSIC MEATBALLS

ingredients

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/2 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley

4 ounces good quality Parmesan reggiano, cut into coarse chunks

1 medium onion, halved

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (make from white bread slices, crusts removed, in food processor)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 tablespoons dry red wine, plus more for deglazing pan, and for drinking

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper Also:olive oil (for pan)1 can beef broth

how to make

1. Combine garlic, parsley, and Parmesan in the food processor. Process until finely grated. Add onion, process until finely grated. Put into mixing bowl.

2. Add remaining ingredients through pepper, to bowl. Knead well, but do not over knead (a fine line, I know.) Form two- to -three-inch meatballs, and lightly dredge in flour.

3. Heat oil in large, skillet. Add meatballs, and brown on all sides over med-hi heat. Drain off fat.

4. Deglaze pan with a cup or so of red wine, or a bit more. Should boil and sizzle nicely. When half has cooked off, add a cup to a cup and a half of the beef broth. Return to boil. Lower temp to simmer, and cover.

A DIY weekend

This weekend was more work than play. Michael and I decided to finally put up crown molding in the downstairs of our home. I decided that we should put a splash of color on the walls as well. Michael hates to paint but with the two of us working at it we painted the entire downstairs in one day. Sunday we worked on the crown moldings and we finished the dining room and family room. We still have the living room to do but you can see from the picture Michael was getting a little goofy.....lol. We took a break and took the kids to the movies but Simi had a huge power outage that put a damper on that plan. Thank god the mall was open!!