My very talented son!

I love this time year.  I love the cooler temperatures, (and slowly I think we're getting there) the crisp mornings and the earlier evenings.  I LOVE Thanksgiving.  I love getting together with family and friends.  I love cooking all the yummy comfort foods we associate with this time of year so naturally I do more of it.  However, I do have two problems,  first one is I get tired of cooking the same things all time. So lately I've been a bit obsessed with food blogs.  I could literally spend hours searching out different food blogs.  I have found a new favorite.  It's The Pioneer Woman.   I just love her!  She has fabulous recipes so if you get a chance go take a peek,  but be prepared to spend some time there, she has loads of fun stuff to browse. Now my second problem is, because I'm cooking more, I'm eating more and unfortunately my desire for exercise does not match my desire for eating.  I guess another plus about this time of year is the bulkier clothes I get to wear to cover up the extra pounds I've put on!!

Happy (eating) Thanksgiving!

Last birthday of the year!

If I wasn't feeling old enough at my own impending birthday (right around the corner) I  do now that my son has turned 17!  If time wasn't flying before, it sure is now.  The next couple of years are just going to be blur.  How precious this time is and a great reminder to enjoy every moment we have with the ones we love.

I Love you G-man!

Here's my birthday boy trying to pull off the Wolverine look.  This was his attempt at a Halloween costume this year. (he really needed about another weeks worth of growth) I was sad when he shaved it off.

Let's just say Halloween is NOT my favorite holiday.  Now fall I love, Halloween not so much.  All the time and money spent on costumes and candy, well I'd just scrap it all but, of course, the kids love it but I really try to keep it simple.  So, of course, I'm all about EASY Halloween costumes.  It's pretty much whatever you can find in our costume box, borrowed, or requires the least amount of effort and money on my part.  These costumes were perfect for my Halloween laziness.   Mario and Lugi.  Thankfully, I had two willing participants.  I just hate it when I think I have a great idea for a simple costume and the kids just aren't on board with it.

The girls were just whatever.  Liv based her whole outfit around that tie, she had some pretty crazy socks on too that you can't see here. ( couldn't upload the other picture that showed them off ) Sweetpea found that dress at a local thrift store and that was good enough for me!  

 Here's one benefit of your kids getting older...they can carve their own pumpkins!  Hubby was working and he is usually the one that does all the grunt work of carving pumpkins.  But the kids wanted to do it so I sent them outside and said "clean up when you're done."

these are the results...

Liv got discouraged because her pumpkin was so small and it was really hard to carve, so after finally getting the top off she opted to just draw a face on.  This is Jack.

Let me just say, I'm so glad Halloween is over, now we can get down to the real holidays...Thanksgiving and Christmas!