The Bartering Begins

After trick-or-treating, the bartering begins! 

I'm not sure what this is ... or if I like it!

What do you have?

Halloween 2012

Halloween! Found Frankenstein pretty easily but the other outdoor decorations are clearly too organized to be found this year. 

Ethan as Steve from Minecraft.

Jacob as a Creeper from Minecraft.

Sarah as Draculaura from Monster High.

Lucas as a Power Ranger.

Mark just being Mark.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Trunk Or Treat

I'd never heard of this type of Trick or Treating before, but TRUNK or Treats are popular here. Folks decorate the trunks of their cars and hand out candy, dress up ... in random parking lots around the city. This one happened to be at the kids' new pediatrician's office.

A Halloween preview: Sarah as Draculaura from Monster High, Jacob as a Creeper from Minecraft, Lucas as a Power Ranger and Ethan as a baseball player. Ethan's Minecraft costume didn't arrive at the same time as Jacob's so Ethan will be Steve from Minecraft on Halloween - with a similar giant box head.

 

Scooby Doo Trunk.

Sesame Street Trunk.

Seussville Trunk.

Crazy barrel train ride with pediatric nurse/volunteer fireman/teddy bear of an old guy as the driver. He went FAST and the kids loved it!

Fire Truck was there.

Then they had to leave after an alarm went off. Tore outta there pretty fast!

Train bounce house.

 The kids' doctor (as Daphne from Scooby Doo) riding the train. Jacob is the only one that's had an appointment so far and we both thought she was fantastic. He said she was like a teenager (because she made jokes and gave him high-fives). This picture probably doesn't dispell the teenager image, but I thought she was great with him.

Pumpkin bowling and cauldron of candy.

Pumpkin Village

I recently bought a Groupon for a pumpkin patch a couple miles from our house. A friend of mine happened to go to the pumpkin patch the weekend before and reported that there were actually two pumpkin patches right next to each other! I thought that was very strange so before we loaded up and went, I wanted to confirm which patch would take my Groupon. I found this funny blog that tells the story of how the two patches came to be!

Our Groupon ended up being for the Pumpkin Village (Park) - or the imitation patch - according to the story. We enjoyed terrific weather and lots of rides, games and activities. 

A relatively small hay maze.

Mini pumpkin launch.

Eaten alive by the bounce house!

Behind Ethan and Lucas, you can see the parking lot of the other pumpkin patch.

Hay ride.

Pony rides.

Hair painting.

We were there almost four hours and I ended up giving our leftover tickets to a family with two tiny girls. Maybe next year we'll visit the Original Pumpkin Patch instead and see if we prefer one or the other. Until then - off to find costumes for Halloween!

Copy Cat Recipe: Creamy Jalapeno

A friend sent me a "wish you were here" picture/text from a Mexican restaurant called Chuy's with a yummy chip dip - their famous Creamy Jalapeno Ranch dressing. So I went online looking for a copycat recipe and found a couple on Pinterest. I modified it a little using regular milk vs. buttermilk and adding garlic. I thought it tasted fabulous, but since I was comparing it to memory, I may be a little off.

3 C mayo
3/4 C milk
3/4 C tomatillo sauce
3/4 C sliced jalapenos
1 bunch of cilantro
2 pkg Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch dressing mix
1 T minced garlic
Throw it all in a food processor and blend. Voila!

Now who's going to bring me some of the real thing so we can compare side-by-side?

Random Pictures from My Cell Phone

Since I cannot seem to find the USB cord that connects my Rebel camera to the computer, I cannot share with you any of the photos I've taken recently. That is, until the new cable arrives in the mail. So I bring you "Random Cell Phone Pics."

Mommy Calling Cards. Could just be the cutest and coolest things EVER! I bought them on Etsy and the kids have been handing them out to their new friends at school...you know, those friends who never seem to have a last name or a correct phone number?

The Nissan hit 200,000 miles. The van is about to hit 140,000. Somethings gotta give. I'm do not want a Suburban. Even if it is the Official Car of Dallas. I still have kids that can't open doors carefully in parking lots and the peace of mind that comes with sliding doors (on another minivan) is what I'm after. The kids are after an in-car DVD player (which won't be turned on for trips less than 30 miles). 

My grandma joined Facebook recently. I posted this picture to her Facebook page and said "Polishing silver is not for sissies!" Seriously, it took me a whole day to do all these pieces. My friends had a field day! "Oh you poor girl!" and "That's why I don't own any!" In hindsight, maybe I should have just sent the pic via email. I was not trying to boast about owning silver. I was just trying to give a shout out to my grandma. Sheesh! LOL. 

Spent one day last week shopping in Historic Downtown Grapevine. Found all these cute little shops - even a boutique that sold Jennifer Massey Designs necklaces! Hooray! I did not buy either of these next two things, but I sure thought about it. Makes me laugh:

This print was so pretty...dots of light blue, turquoise and fresh greens. I think they are dogwood blossoms. I was tempted to buy it for my office. All the model homes out here are decorated in shades of turquoise (you thought I was going to say grey, didn't you?) with pops of browns, oranges, crisp whites. I love the scheme and want to start "cooling down" the warm, spicy decor we've had in San Antonio. But then I found out that the painting wasn't original (many others in the shop were) and the owner had bought it at market. It lost some of it's appeal after that but I still think about going back for it. If it's still there in a month, maybe she'll make a deal. 

Just today, I was at the elementary school for a PTA meeting. We met in the "Learning Lounge" which was painted in a Mondrian-inspired theme with red and black accents. SO COOL for an elementary!