Pumpkin Carving for FHE

If you know My husband very well, then you know is is a clean freak/germ-a-phobe! I'm not like that, so I love that quality in him! It took me by surprise when he said he wanted to carve a pumkin with Riley, I asked - are you sure?? He was. It was probably the cleanest carving I had ever seen, and no surprise, Riley loved every minute of it.

Trunk or Treat!

A seriously fun party!

* Chili cook-off
* Pie baking contest
* Carnival
* Costume parade
* and of course a trunk or treat




I think I had more fun dressing Riley up then she did! Not to toot my own horn, but I thought I did a pretty good job on her hair, so I'm putting up pictures!

This was at the ward party, Riley had so much fun walking the parade as a little witch. She walked with Amberly ( a little girl in my Sunday School Class) and her friend Arianna. I think Chloe was way overstimulated by all the action in the gym, but she did really well just chillin in Dad's arms most of the night!

Caramel Pumpkin Cookies

Riley has been really into cooking with me lately, so I tried a new pumpkin cookie recipe. It makes me miss my friend Gina, who tried a new pumpkin recipe every week during the fall, I hope this is up up her standards :) Speaking of standards, and friends , the pictures are definitely not up to Kathi's standards, but I tried really hard! Anyways, try the recipe out, we liked it!

Caramel Pumpkin Cookies
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
2 cups shortening
2 cups white sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons butter
8 tablespoons milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup packed brown sugar
DIRECTIONS
Cream shortening, white sugar and pumpkin. Add eggs and mix well. Sift together the baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt and flour. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Drop from spoon to cookie sheet. (I rolled them into balls, they came out prettier)Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
To Make Frosting: Cook butter, milk, and brown sugar until dissolved. Cool and add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Spread over warm cookies.

Never go to bed angry

I'm not sure why, but this has been a really hard week with the little ones. Tonight I put Riley to bed, right after I swatted her behind, dragged her into her room (kicking and screaming), and without her precious "blanky". Now, all I can think of is the old saying "never go to bed angry", Well Riley is in bed and I'm angry. I'm pretty sure Riley didn't even touch her toys today, she pretty much just got into EVERYTHING she's not supposed to. I don't think I've been more frustrated with her in her whole life. Just when I think we're doing OK and that I'm finally figuring out this whole Mom thing, I have one of these weeks where I want to rip my hair out. Sometimes I think she'll never get it! She keeps doing the same things over and over again, then right when she sees I'm about to blow, she says "I'm sorry Mommy - Hugs?"

Any Moms been there??? Or am I just awful? You can tell me I'm awful, cuz it just might be true.

Halloween Cookies

I would like to say that we have family traditions. So here is ours:
Use any excuse to get sweets... so we decorated cookies. Riley had a blast, and so did I (I only ate 2)! Riley peeled off the frosting and left the cookie-yuck. We probably spent about 2 hours decorating, it was so fun just sitting together talking and decorating!

Our fall festivities begin

We went to the Pumpkin Patch!



Riley with all her little peeps...

They had a lot of cute little things for the kids to do there. There was a little corn maze and other little hay tunnels for them to crawl through. They had bunnies to pet and a train ride. This was perfect for our little toddlers!



This is Riley's friend Cambria - now and 2 years ago at the pumpkin patch! My how these little cuties grow!

Chloe gets messy

You gotta love Gerber teething cookies. As you can see Chloe was loving it!

A visit with Grandma

This past weekend we drove up to Rocklin (which is about 2 1/2 hours away, just North of Sac) to see Mike's Mom. She hasn't met Chloe, and had been begging us to make a trip up there - she doesn't drive much. We had a fun time, she gave the girls each a bag of fun presents - and of course, they loved them. While we were there, we went to Johns Incredible Pizza, which has all you can eat salad, pizza, pasta, & dessert, along with fun games for the kids. Here's a few pics from our day


Grandma Genny, Riley, & Mike (I think they all have the same smile)


This is her first time in a restaurant high chair...uh huh, NASTY DIRTY. I felt like showering her in hand sanitizer afterwards.


Us adults get to talking, we look over and Riley was chug-a-luggin Mikes soda - she NEVER has soda, so this must have been a real treat!


Riley & Mommy on a kid ride - wasn't sure it would hold me


OK, I think this was my favorite part of the whole trip. Riley got on this big ride all by herself - look at her with all those big kids! I don't even think she was tall enough to go, but she did anyway...and she LOVED every minute of it, with all of the ups and downs and ups and downs. I think Mike was in tears at the fact that his little girl is getting so big, but he wouldn't admit it.

7 months

Chloe is pulling herself up on everything!
I'm happy with her making a milestone and everything, but I can't stop thinking that this can only mean one thing - Trouble for MOM!

Soccer Season!

Soccer began this week, and since Riley is only 2 1/2, she gets to do it with Dad. There aren't any games, just classes to teach them basic skills. Here are a few pictures of our day

All ready for my first soccer practice!

A few "2 Year old" moments. On the top, she got wet and was freaking out, then while running over to me, she fell and wouldn't get up. This was pretty dramatic for her, but hilarious to watch.

Even Daddy needed a water break

Chloe and me cheering from the sideline

We hope Riley really enjoys soccer. It was a fun start to soccer, especially because the day was all finished off by hamburgers and shakes at In-n-Out - It doesn't get better than that.