Happy Halloween

We had a scary dinner tonight. Orange mashed mush (potatoes) with spiders, bloody green eyeballs (deviled eggs) and mummy and ghost meatloaf.

Julia has worn her Halloween costume EVERY SINGLE DAY this past week, and wouldn't you know it, I somehow don't have a picture of her in it. Here is Ironman Blake with his little friend "Daphne".

Mike and I were candy bars this year.

And Cole was a cute little doggy. (with a very dirty face-geeee what a surprise)
I just had to dig this one out of the archives. It is of Blake in the same doggy costume 4 years ago. HE screamed and screamed until we took it off. Cole on the other hand was very happy to be all suited up like a doggy.

Pumpkin Patch

What happened to you, sad little pumpkin?

Saturday was the perfect day for a trip to the local pumpkin patch. IF only I had someone there with a good camera and good skills. IT was perfect picture taking weather. I love this picture of Cole.

Thank goodness our friend gave us free passes and lots of tickets for the pony rides because that place is expensive!!!! Thanks Rebecca. We all had a wonderful time.

Dancing in the Rain

Try to pretend that Julia is wearing pants/skirt/shorts. She kept taking them off when they got wet. This picture cracks me up. It speaks volumes about Julia's personality. Don't worry Jeffrey is safely tucked into her jacket.

It was been a rainy week down here in Southern California. One evening right after I left the house for a run it started raining then hailing on me. I almost turned around....but it was kind of fun running in it.

The 2 older kids were dying to play in the wet wet rain so I let them during one afternoon when it was pouring. They had fun and I had fun watching them from my dry dry doorstep. (also try to pretend in the above picture that Julia's clothes actually match....of course Jeffrey had to come out and play in the rain as well)

Jeffrey

My child is strangely attached to a small pink flamingo puppet that she named Jeffrey. Everywhere that Julia goes Jeffrey is sure to follow. We have found that sending Jeffrey to time out is a good punishment when Julia does something naughty because she hates to part with him.
She feeds him, talks to him, loves him and even makes sure to snuggle him in her sleep.

These chairs make me happy

I bought our kitchen table and chairs about 10 years ago for $90 from my roommate who was moving out. They have seen a lot in 10 years. The table is still functional but the chairs had to go. Each of the chairs had been repaired various times and were wobbly. When a loose screw ripped a hole in a freind's pants a few weeks ago we knew it was time to say goodbye. So off we went to Ikea to purchase 5 new chairs. But I didn't want boring white, black or wood. I wanted Pizzazz.

And pizzazz is what I got. Mike happens to know all the right people and borrowed a paint sprayer thing which basically lets you pour your paint into a machine that acts like a spray paint bottle. He whipped those babies out for me yesterday afternoon. Thanks Mike.

Oh they make me happy!!! I love them.

Pupusas

About 10 years ago someone introduced me to the lovely taste of pupusas. Originating from El Salvador, they are made of corn masa with cheese, beans and pork inside and topped with a cabbage concoction on top. (kind of like a quesadilla) I used to work right by a pupuseria and would go once a week when they had their $1 pupusa day. For some reason I never thought of making them. Finally last week I decided it was finally time to download some recipes and try my hand at them. Gotta love the internet.

They turned out ok but trying to keep the filling inside the masa was very difficult. Thank goodness Tiffany was a willing participant in this project when she came up to visit. She did a much better job forming those guys than I did.

November 13th has been declared national day of the pupusa by the nation of El Salvador and so maybe I'll try them again then. Wanna come over?

Cole liked them. He also liked his giant serving of black beans on the side. He loves beans.

Please explain this weather

Last Monday it was so hot that I felt like I was living in Las Vegas. That's right 105 degree weather. We went swimming on Monday morning and even walking on the pavement right by the pool was hot.

Today it is 65 degrees outside and raining.

That's a 40 degree difference. This is California. We usually don't see things like this.