Trick or treat, smell my feet

I love Halloween. I think family themed costumes are the bomb. We had a couple ideas (my fave was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) that never came to fruition. Instead we ended up with a hodge podge of cute. Belle recycled the Princess Belle costume from last year. Ava created her own Sonic the Hedgehog outfit and ended up with a rash from her make up job. Luke was supposed to be a cow, but ended up a centaur-esque being with the body of a small child wearing a Mr. Happy shirt from the waist up and that of a cow from the waist down.

This was really the first year Luke sorta had a clue. At the very first house we were able to trick a lady into giving us some candy. Upon receipt of said candy, Luke tried to feed it to the lady's electronic dancing cat. So we tried again. And again. After five-ish houses Luke was done. Try as we might, we couldn't get him to get us more candy. Because we're really smart, we didn't realize until we were almost home and saw a few wrappers fly over the edge of the stroller that Luke was staying in the stroller to munch on his candy.

In keeping with tradition, here's the lovely photo I got. Luke was hiding behind the couch being all pissy because I wanted him to wear the cow hoodie. Princess Jasmine graced us with her presence for the occasion.

We like to spread all the booty out and do a photo shoot before we gobble it up. Unfortunately, we didn't get to that point. I thought about posting a photo of the booty most of the booty ended up inside. But after checking out the photos Belle took of my ass, I decided against it.

Try this at home - Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake

Since happening upon the King Arthur Blog (which might've been mentioned a time or two before), I've become a junkie. This week I made the Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake. If you click on the link, you're going to see a pretty piece of cake. Though I see many, many people post photos of every step and possibly even the resulting yummy-ness, I can't. It already takes me at least twice as long as it should since I typically have to referee five to seven arguments, put some kind of toy and/or kid in time out and deal with issues surrounding the hunger and thirst of youngsters. So, my friends (I say that because you probably are my friends and I'm not running for President), below you'll see how much we liked this recipe.

Final verdict? It was good. You should make it.

Words of wisdom? Make sure to have LOTS (as in every single one in your house) of clean bowls ready for measuring all your ingredients. And add 1-2 ounces more water to the topping than the recipe calls for.

I'm still here

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I always have intentions of getting some blogs together and scheduling the posts, but somehow it doesn't happen. This past weekend we got to hang out with Grandma Hutt (Nebraska), Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob (Colorado). They usually make it to our area annually. They like to pretend it's the distance, but we know it takes them an entire year to build up the courage to deal with us again. As always, we had a blast.

We celebrated my thirty-onederfulest birthday (Sept 23 - and for those of you that like to say I'm allllll the way over the hill, I want you to know that I'm at the bottom of that hill, haven't even begun the ascent yet thankyouverymuch) and Wade's thirty-second (Oct 7) at Woodland Park. For my actual birthday, Wade made me some butterscotch finger cakes, which were almost ready to eat upon my return from my lovely pedicure (thanks Fox!). Talk about delish. Ava requested them for her birthday cake.

With the weather cooling off (except for today - 80s, get out of here!) I've been in a baking mood. Not being Jewish, I hadn't heard of challah. Since the recipe popped up on KA Baker's Banter, I decided to give it a try. If you like your girlish figure, don't even look. Good stuff. Really good. In fact, I'd make some right now, but I'm working on some Puffs. So far, pretty easy. As if that's not enough, Wade's getting some overnight cinnamon rolls (which you've all made, right?) for his birthday breakfast.

This weekend we went on a shoe hunt for the wee ones. And here's an idea, "shoe store" owners. Why not stock your shoe store so the descriptive word "shoe" is applicable. Huh? Why didn't anyone think of that? The "customer service" at Dick's lives up to the store name. And Stride Rite. Oh, don't even get me started. The employees act like they've been held hostage in the back and force fed the squished crackers that never seem to get cleaned up. Ava ended up getting a pair of New Balance from there partially because they were the only pair of 13.5s in the ENTIRE MALL. How is that possible? They were the first pair to catch my eye (and it was the first store on our long, long journey), not only because they were on clearance, but because they were cute. So, over an hour and several miles later we trooped back to get them. At the half way back point, I reminded Ava that I was going to be more than annoyed if she decided not to get them since we had to pass our exit to get back there.

Belle got a pair today. Guess what size she needs? 13.5. Crazy. She seems to have inherited my skis. Poor kid. Luke is still running around barefoot because there are no 9.5 wides out there. NB has the cutest Sesame Street shoes (my fave is Cookie Monster) out right now. For whatever reason, the powers that be over at NB decided that kids with wide feet shouldn't get the pleasure of wearing the cutest shoes ever and only made them in medium width. Hmmpff.

Don't forget to call and harass Wade tomorrow!

For those bored nights

I'm not sure how Hulu came to Wade's attention, but it would've been better if it hadn't. For those nights when we're not thrilled with our Netflix options (need to remember to stay on top of that queue), we Hulu. And because my husband is smart when it comes to cords, we can hook our computer up to the tv, enabling me to watch without whipping out the ole crooked glasses. (I'm not sure how they got crooked. I never wear them and as far as I know they stay in the case. The one time I wore them I was at the grocery store and it was so nice to be able to read the signs that say what's on what aisle.)

The choices are kind of B list. And the ones that aren't don't necessarily have all the seasons available. Despite that, some of the best tv ever is on there. We're talking Firefly, News Radio, The O.C. (season 1), Kitchen Nightmares. Good stuff.

Two down

Belle is officially a school goer. She goes to the coolest school ever. We went for a visit last year and tried to get in, but it's so cool that nobody quit. Her schedule isn't too bad - three hours a day three days per week.

Wade's schedule, on the other hand, is kind of crazy on Belle's school days. Ava has to be picked up around 2:30, or whenever the teachers get them out, and Belle's pick up time is 3:00 several miles away through serious traffic. Next year the girls will be going to the same school, so I think we can deal for one school year.

Like the photo? That's Belle saying, "Here's your freakin' smile. Now get the heck outta dodge chumps."

Where do you draw the line?

I draw it right here. At this outfit.


Ava prepares her outfits the night before and I usually double check them. You know, to make sure she doesn't wear stuff like this in public. I'm all for the kids using their clothes as a creative outlet, but damn.

My initial reaction when I saw this fab combo was to take her straight to our eye doctor. Obviously there's something seriously wrong with her sight. She was dead set on wearing the shirt. It looks lovely with her jean skirt. So, I encouraged her to pick the jean skirt and gave her the night to ponder it and hopefully dream about the taunting she'd receive and the phone calls I'd get from her teachers.

Here's the up close in case that first picture didn't make you retch.

As you'd imagine, it didn't work. She woke up consumed with the thought of how great the colors complimented each other, a sore throat and miserable with allergies. Having been beaten on by ragweed all week, I felt for her and decided that she should spend the day at home.

Belle's Birthday

You're not going crazy. Belle's birthday isn't until Christmas Eve. But she's been planning her fifth birthday party since two days after her fourth birthday. It would've been the day after, but since that was Christmas Day, she was occupied for a few hours.

She'd like it to be known that she's having a Mario Party. I've been stalking some Mario pans on ebay (since they're from 1989!) and came across this uber cute Super Mario Mushroom Cookie that I'll have to make. Looks like Wilton has taken down all their old shaped pan instructions. Surely they didn't trash all that info and it's just buried deep in their site.

In case you missed last year's party, it was a royal event involving Princess Ariel. Due to the unfortunate date of her birth, we try to party at least twice (we've even done half birthday parties, which opened a can of worms I wasn't quite prepared to deal with and landed Belle with a seriously infected ear lobe) in an effort to prolong her realization that she's going to be screwed.

Blowing out the candles. Note the placement of the candles. Not my idea.