Wanna see something scary?

This is what I woke up to this morning! We carved the pumpkin on Saturday night and I found this Wednesday morning, so only 3 - 1/2 days later. Gross!!!

This week...

We've been busy playing outside in the leaves,





Playing dress up,
Emptying all the toy bins and playing in them instead,Taking naps (this is usually how Leah starts out every nap, with all her babies, animals, and blankies!)
Visiting the pumpkin patch,

Carving pumpkins,
Dancing like a ballerina,

Going trick-or-treating at our church party,
And eating all the candy afterward!

We love fall and Halloween!

Harvest Time!

I finally got around to picking all the rest of the vegetables from our garden before the frost hits and here's our bounty! I had picked a lot of tomatoes over the last month or so and made salsa with them but these ones never turned red so I thought I would just have to throw them away. But then I found out from my SIL that if you wrap them in newspaper, they will ripen indoors. So I did that and already, a week later, I've got 4 red ones and 2 more yellowish red ones that are almost ready to eat. Anyone up for more salsa?

As for the carrots, they tasted marvelous, so much better than store bought ones. I made a beef stew last weekend with half of them and we could totally taste the difference. Then yesterday I made this delicious carrot cake with the other half and oh my gosh, it was the best carrot cake ever! Try this recipe if you have carrots you're trying to use up, even if they are store bought.

Carrot Cake
4 eggs
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cream Cheese frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 3 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.


Because this was our first year of having a successful garden and actually getting something out of it, I thought I'd show it's progress from start to finish. We did a row of corn and carrots and then sections of tomatoes, green beans, and lettuce. This is planting day, May 31st, 2008.


1 month later, July 3rd

2 months later, Aug. 3rd

2 1/2 months later, Aug. 22nd

3 months later, Sep. 4th

4 1/2 months later, Oct. 18th

It's sad to see our little plot all barren and dead but we're excited for the spring when our tulips will come up and we can start it all over again!

Pucker up!

About a month ago Leah started always wanting me to kiss her and would pucker her lips up "like diss" several times a day and say "Mmmm, mmmm" until I gave her one. Ever since, I've been trying to get a good picture of it to show you all. Well, we finally got one! Now, who wouldn't want to kiss those adorable smackeroos?

Just a few more to show how cute and persistent she is!

I'm back!

We just got back from a trip to Washington State to visit Jared's sister and family and had the best time. Here's some pictures of the kids playing together and some places we went. Overall the flight was fine, we had a few meltdowns but made it back in one piece and now we're glad to be home!

We don't have a piano so the kids had a lot of fun with this new toy!

Playing with their cousin Hailey
Visiting a corn maze and pumpkin patch

Sitting on the "cowch"
How the kids spent a lot of their time
Visiting the Space Needle...

And Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle

All of us before a night out on the town!

Thanks, Josh and Susan, for a wonderful time. We can't wait to see you again!

Abbie's photo shoot

I took Abbie to Sears to get professional pictures a few weeks ago and here are the results. Isn't she adorable? I think she looks so grown up in some of these, can you believe my baby is 4 years old already? It seems like just yesterday I couldn't wait for her to learn to crawl or start eating solids and now I'm wishing the clock would slow down just a little bit so I could enjoy this last year or two with her at home before she starts kindergarten. I'm just not ready for her to grow up yet!