Fall 2012 Bucket List & Some Random Pix

I got the idea to do a fall fun list from pinterest (I know, shocker). There are so many fun things to do as a family during the autumn months but because I never plan them, we don't do them. To rectify that, I thought I would put on paper some things that we would enjoy or things that would be good to accomplish by Christmas (this list does not include anything I want to get done in the house). Some of them will be for all of us, and some will be just for me and the kids while we are home during the day. This is what I came up with:

1.  Start "school" with Eden (music, art, worksheets, counting, etc.)

2. Play in the leaves and make some pictures

3. Drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a family picnic

4. Teach Eden about saving money by getting her a piggy bank and earning money through helping us in the house

5. Go to a pumpkin patch

6. Go to Tanglewood and walk through the corn maze

7. Make soups and hot drinks in the crockpot

8. Take a nature walk and see what kind of special things we can find

9. Go apple picking and make caramel apples for the neighbors 

I am not sure we will accomplish all of these, but it helps to see it on paper. I have a list going for Christmas/winter as well and will post that around Thanksgiving. 

In other news, Harry boy is not feeling too great recently. :( I'm not sure if it is a cold, teething, ear infection...but he has a temp and runny nose and isn't sleeping well (which means we aren't either). Here is a pic of my sweet little boy this morning:

Can you see those weak, tired eyes? Pulls my heartstrings! 

Yesterday, the kids were trying to escape:

But they didn't have any luck with that. :) 

Bath time is always fun - they both love the water!

So there you have it, a rather random post I'm afraid. But if you think that was bad, wait for the next one. :D

PICTURES!

It is amazing how much I use my camera - I didn't realize it until the batteries died and I didn't have it for about a week. And I hate using my phone's camera! But, oh happy day, we finally got new batteries and I have been snapping pics all over the place. Here is a slew of them:

I found Harry like this Sunday evening - I could tell he had no idea how he was going to get out of there without falling over:

This kid loves to climb into stuff - he has a nice cushy chair to sit in, but prefers the book crate while he is reading:

Random shot I got while the kids were playing ball with Jason and the dogs - I love the double profile:

This post is a little Harry-heavy, but I managed to get a couple of the Peanut too:

Climbing up my lap while I'm trying to snap some shots:

He decided it would be nice to sit on Eden's bed while watching TV:

The princess herself, hanging out in the music room:

I can't help but end with this one - their faces are priceless! 

Happy Monday! :D 

Weekly Recipe Roundup

Here are some recent pinterest recipes from this week:

Cauliflower Breadsticks/Pizza

I have been wanting to try this out for a while – the idea of using cauliflower instead of a flour based bread had me interested! The recipe I used called for “riced cauliflower” which I discovered simply means cauliflower that has been ground into a rice shape with a blender. Easy peasy. Here is the crust before and after it was baked:

And here it is before and after it was baked with the topping (cheese, etc.):

I have to say, it was absolutely delicious. The flavor was intense and I would take this as a trade off for breadsticks or pizza any day! I would love to experiment with more toppings too, but I just went by the recipe for the first try. The only bad thing was that it was a bit hard to get off the stone because the bottom wasn’t super sturdy. However, the recipe called for parchment paper that I didn’t use so that would probably fix that problem.                             

Next up was a pasta dish I named Mediterranean Pasta:

This was great too and very easy. Basically just tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, olive oil and garlic tossed with spaghetti. We decided it would be better with smaller pasta because the spaghetti clumped a bit. But the flavor was great!

Lastly was a One-Pot Chicken Dish:

This isn’t my photo, but it essentially looked the same. This was another easy recipe, you just put everything in the dish, sprinkle it with an Italian dressing packet and pour a stick of melted butter over top. The flavor was fantastic on the veggies, although we thought the chicken was a bit dry, even after soaking it in brine all afternoon. I loved having everything in one dish though and I was able to get it ready early and then just pop it in the oven an hour before we wanted to eat.

Overall this week’s newbies have been good! I still have a few more I am hoping to accomplish from this week’s list so I will keep you updated!

Side note: my camera has no batteries at the moment so my next post might be a bit stalled. I’m working on it!

House Tidbits

Nothing major going on in the house right now with my back being somewhat out of commission,  but here are a couple little tidbits for ya. 

I wanted to move some of my toiletries from below the sink (where a certain little boy could get to them) to somewhere easily accessible in our bathroom. I got two extra shelves at IKEA when I bought the ones for Eden's room (see here) and decided they would be perfect. Sprayed them with my favorite ORB (oil rubbed bronze) spray paint and hung them up behind the door. Here is the new storage:

While at Target last week looking for prizes for Eden's potty training, I spotted this little guy in the dollar bin:

Don't ask me why, but I just love him! He stole my heart much like Clive did. I believe the reason I like him so much is because he reminds me of my cousin, Tazma. She has a horse farm in SC and every time I see a beautiful horse I think of her. She is one of the sweetest people I know and her home and personality are so inviting. I hope that by having her inspire a bit of our decor we will reflect the same thing to others when they visit our home. 

So our latest animal addition is at home on the mantel for now. Oh, and his name is Marcus, short for Neiman Marcus. :) 

Weekly Recipe Roundup

I have been on a kick lately with trying new recipes. Here's what we've had the last week or so:

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Ring:

This was very tasty, but basically just everything you would have for breakfast presented in a pretty package. Jason said I could just serve each thing separately and not go to the trouble, haha. This was my first ever attempted ring though, so I was glad for the experience. I didn't do a great job but at least I have the first one under my belt. They make nice presentations at holidays and such. 

Next up, Crockpot Mexican Chicken:

(my plate) 

(Jason's bowl) 

This was a big hit! A nice deviation from our normal dripless tacos to get our mexican food fix. We made the chix in the crockpot and then served it on rice with black beans, green onions, and cheese on top. We even scooped all of it with corn chips and it was delicious! This will definitely be a keeper. 

Third, Melt In Your Mouth Chicken:

Although mine looks absolutely nothing like the picture on the website (in fact, mine looks kinda gross), this was very tasty.  Basically it tasted like chicken with alfredo sauce on top. Very rich. And very high in calories, haha. But still tasty and easy, nonetheless. 

Next was Homemade Applesauce:

Oh my word...this was DELICIOUS! So, so easy too. This was actually an impromptu experiment because I had some apples I needed to use and was planning to make applesauce cookies later in the week. I used four apples and got about 3/4 cup of applesauce. I'm thinking this may be a good thing to give as Christmas gifts - it had such a comforting, home-y taste to it. Will definitely be making this again. 

I used the homemade applesauce for these Applesauce Cookies:

These were pretty good as well, but more like biscuits. In fact, I decided to rename them Applesauce Snickerdoodle Biscuits. They were very dense but delicious with a cup of coffee in the morning. I don't think Jason was a big fan. :) 

So that's this week's roundup! Stay tuned next week for more experiments, including Mediterranean Pasta, Cauliflower Tater Tots, and Strawberry Oatmeal Cookie Bars!

Photo Dump: Crazy Caranci Kids

Get ready for a bunch of random pictures! 

I think Eden is ready for some snow - she came out of her room the other day dressed in her winter hat, gloves, and boots (which made a great ensemble with her shorts and sundress):

Hanging out in Eden's room:

Dressed and ready for a luau:

I heard a weird scraping sound from my bedroom and looked into the hall to see Harry getting a free ride on a toy bin, courtesy of his sister:

We have kept Harry's hair super short since he was born (I like a really clean look), but on a whim decided to let it grow and see what happened. I was hoping he might have inherited some curl from me, but no go - he just looked like a ragamuffin. This is as long as I could stand it:

(don't worry, he is just trying to eat his maraca)

After he got chopped (SOOOO much better!):

A sweet shot of Eden with her Daddy (and still in her winter hat):

One of our big endeavors this week has been to re-train Eden to use the potty. Although she was basically trained last year, she had a MAJOR relapse and I just didn't have the energy to keep it up til now. I did a lot of reading and prep for the big day one. Jason took Harry out for the day and Eden and I had a mommy/daughter date at home with the toilet. Sounds kinda bad, but we had a wonderful time. It was so nice to dedicate a whole day to her - no computer, phone, or any other distractions. In case anyone is interested, I implemented a lot of the strategies from here. Here is my prep pile:

Prizes, yummy food (to make her drink more and have to go more often), stickers, a new big girl cup, new blocks and a new pad for drawing. We had a great time playing together! She did awesome - no accidents the first day. Frankly I expected that though, since I was taking her every 15-20 minutes.  Day two had a few more accidents, but I tried to leave her on her own a bit more. I think her two best accomplishments in the last 4 days have been staying dry during all of her naps (not quite overnight yet though) and staying dry while she was at church for 2.5 hours (in a new environment and distracted by toys and friends). I am really proud of her - she is one smart cookie. :) 

One of her prizes, a new ballerina skirt (notice her toe point):

Another prize, her favorite - a new baby. She named her Maddie:

Harrison's latest trend has been climbing into anything he can. Here are some shots I managed to snatch:

(Eden managed to sneak in on this one)

The kids love hanging out in their chairs to watch movies - caught this shot this morning. I love how they looked so relaxed and almost sleepy. :) 

One last random shot of Harry:

Hope you enjoyed the show! :)