All Hallow's Eve

In the spirit of Halloween festivities, we went to Tate Farms (again). And the kids loved it (of course). Chase and I have decided that it's getting a tad bit overcrowded for our liking (a lot overcrowded if we are being honest), so next year we are going to try to find a different pumpkin patch to enjoy.

Tower of Tires

Massive bouncy tarp

He loved throwing and yelling. When are my kids not loud?

Never again will I ride this ride. We were stuck with the seats right behind the tractor. Meaning- bits of dirt and hay were flying in my eyes the entire time. Meaning- my eyes have been irritated and red ever since (going  on 39 days if anyone is counting. Which I am!).

This is the one.

The week of Halloween, Cade's preschool had dress-up week:

Pajama day

Dr. Cade on Community Helper Day

The other days that Cade goes were wearing your Halloween costume (pictured below) and team spirit day (we can only guess what jersey he wore).

Haunted gingerbread house making with Papa and Nonni

Little monster and dragon.

All the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa came trick-or-treating in our neighborhood this year! (Maisy is without her sheep costume.) It was a lot more fun having them to go around with us. The worst part of the night was when no one knew where Cade was. I panicked to say the least. I darted everywhere screaming at the top of my lungs. I just knew one of those cars driving by just snatched him. Finally, we heard someone yell, "Over here!". Cade must have been screaming for me, too. I finally saw his little wings bouncing up and down as he ran in the distance. THANK GOODNESS! Huge sigh of relief! And then we were done. No more trick-or-treating. We're going home.

On a lighter note, we only had 255 trick-or-treaters hit our house this year. That's about 100 less than last year.

Backtracking to the 29th of October (my birthday, thank you), Reece went to the doctor to get the staples out of his head. He did ah-maa-zing. Didn't make a peep. Didn't flinch. Held still (which is a miracle in itself). His doctor even said how shocked he was at how awesome he did and gave him the nonexistent best patient of the day award. 

And then, 3 hours later, Reece was sitting on the floor playing with a toy and somehow managed to fall backward on the hardwood and busted it back open. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Blood everywhere. I was freaking out as usual. Cade was excited because he thought he was going to get to go play at Nonni's again (since he went to Nonni's when we took Reece to the ER to get staples in the first place. Thought process of a child...). Sorry, dude, but you're coming with. It was only partially split back open so I rushed him to my dad's office to see if he thought he needed staples again. My dad said he should be fine with suture tape and a big bandage. (Don't pay attention to my huge laundry pile in the background. Oh wait. Now that's all you can see...)

Reece is always into EVERYTHING. 

On this particular morning, he pulled my birthday cake down from the counter (who knows how) and was sitting on the floor giddy as can be while devouring. He looks a little guilty doesn't he?

Just a little while later- got into our food storage shelves and threw everything on the ground. That one's not so bad. He does it a lot.

Can you guess what that is ALL over the floor? Yep- rice. I opened that big 50 lb. bag in the corner while cooking dinner since I was out. No one saw me open it ,and I didn't have time at that moment to put all the rest of the rice in something so I went back in the kitchen to get it cooking. Needless to say, I got consumed in cooking and forgot about the rice. That is, until I heard some whooshing sounds over and over and over... couldn't figure out what in the world could be making that sound and them BAM it hit me! The rice! Yes, he discovered the rice and was happily throwing it alllll over the place. All in the hall, both boys' bedrooms, closet, bathroom, laundry room. It traveled everywhere. SO. MUCH. FUN. The next day, he figured out how to get into my sugar and was throwing that all over the kitchen. We also have to take the bar stools away from the counter because he climbs up on the counter non-stop. His other new thing is to hold down the water lever on the fridge and soak himself and get it all over the floor. Oh how I wish there was a lock button...

And that is October.

Firsts

I know this is really late in coming as most of these happenings occurred 1-2 months ago, but, alas, a new post is finally born. 

Cade's first day of preschool this year. My wish came true- his teacher from last year moved up an age group, and Cade got her again! Woohoo!!

Cade's very first soccer practice.

First popsicle without help.

First football game of the season!

First attempt at putting shorts on completely by himself...

First soccer game.

#8 just like his daddy. Total coincidence, too. Chase was thrilled to say the least.

We were shocked at how good he is! He didn't score any goals in this game, but he has scored at least 3 per game in all of the rest so far. He absolutely LOVES soccer and asks everyday if he has it that day. A true Layton.

 Peek-a-boo. I love those little fat hands.

Peeked in the living room and found this. Definitely, a first.

Gross slobber glass.

Reece's first trip to the beach.

And loved it.

Snot.

 Cade loved catching these suckers. Held them and everything. Not Momma.

Our trip was a quick one. We only had one full day there, but the kids had a blast. Our condo had a big outdoor pool, a little kid pool with the mushroom fountain, and a big indoor pool with hot tubs (Cade loved the hot tubs!).

First merry-go-round ride

Reece's first time to bust out some dance moves.

Cade's first picture day at school.

 Reece's first ER visit.

I hate this. He fell off Cade's bed and hit his head against the nightstand.

And to end on a high note- the PB&J montage:

Can I Get a Yum-Yum?

I'm just going to be honest- I really enjoy food. I mean, REALLY enjoy food. Who doesn't, right? Well, my beyond picky eater of a husband does not. Now, I don't mean that he doesn't like food or doesn't eat it often. What I mean is that he doesn't enjoy it. This may sound a little far fetched so let me give you an example. When I eat something that is really good, everyone around me knows it. Anyone else tend to say - "OOOHHHH, this is so good!!" over and over or make other grunts and noises while inhaling, I mean, eating? Yeah, wives, if your husband does this, be very grateful! Every time we eat, no matter how good the food is, I have to stare at Chase for a long time to finally get a plain ol', monotone "it's good" out of him. So I always have to say, "Make it again good, or it's just okay good?". And if it is "make it again good", he will respond still with no inflection in his voice that shows whether he truly likes it or not. Come on now! Don't you know that every woman who takes the time to cook something really wants to hear how amazing and satisfying you think it is?! It makes us feel good! I'm sure some of you may be saying, "Kristin, it's just plain and simple. Your food must just stink, and Chase doesn't want to hurt your feelings". To which I will say, come over for dinner.

So after many a meal of frustration and after Chase finally cooked a meal for the first or second time ever in his life (my Mother's Day filet from previous post), and I gawked all over it, I lashed out. I wanted to know why he can't ever comment or act like he really likes anything I ever make. Nothing. To which his reply verbatim- "I just don't enjoy food as much as you do". Say wha?? You don't enjoy food?! That is just unfathomable, incomprehensible, inconceivable. Absolutely ludicrous. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL. But then I started thinking. Even when we go out to eat and he gets some ribs or steak or some other man meat that he always gets, he never comments about it or makes satisfied noises when he eats it. Yet, he must like it because he always orders it. Good gracious, some how he actually does not enjoy food. But then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This is coming from a man who refuses to eat a single fruit or vegetable in any form (corn and potatoes are NOT vegetables!). He will never appreciate a juicy, ripe watermelon or the deliciousness of steamed broccoli with a little dab of butter and lemon juice or the heaven of roasted zucchini with a little parmesan sprinkled on top. Which are all amazing. I'm salivating just thinking about them. 

But, I guess there really is nothing I can do about that. I mean, how can you make someone enjoy food? It's just a sad, sad life, and his loss (and my frustration). It's a good thing that so far, the boys seem to be more like myself when it comes to enjoying food. Hopefully, they will comment on my food as they grow and make me feel appreciated. 

Now, as this post gets rather long, let me just say that as much as I enjoy food, I am in no way a food snob, but I also would not just enjoy whatever random thing was put on my plate. I am a lover of all things homemade. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good boxed brownie mix (because technically I have yet to eat a made from scratch brownie that is even close to the fudgey goodness of a boxed brownie), I just very much prefer a good home cooked meal to anything frozen or preservative-ized or picked up from a window. That also doesn't mean I make my own everything homemade. I'm talking mainly meals. And I'm not all healthy-fied (I should make my own dictionary) with my cooking, either. If my chicken paprika calls for some sour cream, I'm going to add me some sour cream. And I definitely will not shun white rice. (Except cream of whatever soup, I mostly shun that except for very few recipes). I'm just trying to make good, wholesome meals for my family. I'm not going to get all sugar-free, vegan, no carbs, etc. All things in moderation. 

As of late, I've been trying to learn how to make all kinds of bread goodness. Because, let's not deny, bread is the ultimate comfort food. For some reason, anything dealing with the words 'yeast' and 'rising' and 'not too much flour because it will be dry' has always intimidated me. How am I supposed to know if this is too much flour?! Well, slowly, but surely, I have begun to figure it all out. And let me just say, it is DE-licious. 

Here are a few delicacies we've begun to enjoy at our house here and there (no critiquing, I'm still learning with the breads):

Need to better learn the technique for rolling them tightly, but these babies slathering in cream cheese icing are divine.

Wheat french bread rolls

Oh. my. mother. These are uhhh-mazing. Cheese Rolls with Buttery Parmesan Crust. Cheese inside a roll. Cheese inside a roll! With a yummy breadcrumb topping! I'm speechless.

Close up of the beloved cheese roll

More cheese and bread for you. I have been searching for the best (and easiest) pizza dough recipe for a really long time, and about a year and a half ago, I finally found it.This is what gave me a little more confidence to try other breads.

My ultimate favorite thing to make is, duh, dessert. And my ultimate favorite dessert of all time ever since I was a wee bratty child is cheesecake. I love cheesecake so much that I almost had a cheesecake wedding cake (until the practice one didn't turn out so well because it cannot be easily stacked without becoming a huge pile of mush and for some reason I really wanted a stacked cake. So I forewent the cheesecake wedding cake. That was dumb.). So, I've been trying to perfect my cheesecake baking for the past 6 years. Nowhere near perfect, but getting better. Here are a couple goodies:

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake. No words describe..

Inside of Brownie Mosaic. Still no words describe..

I made this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake a couple years back for Easter. I made it again for the Scout Spaghetti dinner at church to be auctioned off last month. This picture was taken before I decided to just completely cover the top with the ganache and add some cookie dough balls for decoration. Thanks to my MIL (she appreciates my cooking), it went for $50! Good thing it stayed in the family, because when cutting into it to share a piece, it was not done setting up at all! Mortified! Another day in the fridge, and it was perfect. You can't rush the chilling of a cheesecake.

Other cheesecakes I make on occasion- Pumpkin, Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl, Plain, and still working on finding the best Oreo recipe.

Isn't she a beauty?? Chase used his credit card points to buy me a bigger and better mixer for our anniversary. Maybe that is his way of telling me he likes my food...

It's really not about being a good cook, it's about finding good recipes and just being able to follow them. A lot of my best recipes come from the cooking blog - Mel's Kitchen Cafe. If you don't already know about it, check it out. If you are also a food lover and have any recipe or other blog suggestions, I would love it if you shared with me!

I may not be the world's best cook, but I keep trying. And I try because I love food that much.