Clark & Tiger

Happy Halloween from Clark Kent and Tiger Woods.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman.

The golfer costume was a hand-me-down from Blake, but it was just the right size for Nash, so I couldn't pass up using it again (minus the cap which Nash wouldn't come close to).

Fly on the Wall

Sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch how Blake interacts with his friends at preschool. I wish I knew if he was respectful with his teachers and how hard he works at the "centers." I wish I could be in on those triumphant moments that make him come home on the top of the world.

For the first time in Blake's life, the activities that he participates in during those few hours at school are so foreign to me. He is maneuvering art projects and friendships and snacks while I am scrubbing and writing and errand-running in my own parallel universe. 

Even though he rattles off details in response to the questions I ask him about school, I still don't have a complete picture of what his days are like. 

That is why I am so grateful for opportunities to pop into his school and accompany him on field trips. I was lucky enough to visit the pumpkin patch with his class. I loved catching a glimpse of the way the preschool routine works and the things that make groups of three year olds laugh.

Each and every one of those bouncing little preschoolers was enamored by the school bus ride. They giggled every time the bus bounced or the wide doors opened. They pranced through the pumpkin patch in their matching school bus shirts and picked out cute misformed and discolored pumpkins.

It made me so excited and happy for Blake that he is forming friendships and the foundation of lifelong learning.

In the Leafy Treetops

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Fall is not my favorite season.

Especially when there is hardly any color here in the valley compared to the forests of vibrant trees that surrounded us back in Michigan.

But, I finally figured out that if the autumn colors don't come to us, we must go to them.

The mountains are full of the vibrancy and variety that the valley lacks.

Blake was on cloud nine when we took him on a special mountain hike.

I think the mountains are growing on me.

Blog Design Winner

The winner of the blog design giveaway (picked from random.org) is:

Kourtni who said:
Ooh, pick me!

Congratulations! We will be in touch. Thank you so much to all who entered.

Monster Cookies

I don't usually share recipes because I am so far from being a kitchen guru.

But I believe that all good things must be shared.

Monster cookies are my all time favorite cookies. They have pretty much every unhealthy ingredient in them, including lots and lots of peanut butter. That is why they are so addicting.  

I only make them about once a year because the recipe makes a ton. Like 10 dozen cookies. I have tried halving the recipe before, and they just don't turn out the same. Sometimes I freeze some of the dough so we don't have gazillions of cookies covering every kitchen surface.

Other times I just bake the entire batch and give them away. 

 

I received a text from my friend after Blake and I delivered them last night saying, "Holy best cookie I've ever tasted!"

Yes, they are that good.

I can't take credit for the recipe because my friends and I used to make monster cookies in college. As you scan over the ingredients, you'll clearly see why these cookies are an annual event. But they are so worth it.

As a side note, I used peanut butter m&ms instead of plain m&ms this time around. I searched five different stores for Halloween colored plain m&ms and they just did not exist this year.

Remember to enter the blog design giveaway that ends tonight!

Sopping Wet

We were at a park playdate with friends last week when I heard Nash's screech.

I should have known better than to suggest a park with water in proximity in the middle of October.

I chased Nash away from a tiny foot-deep stream about 27 times until somehow he snuck behind me when I was positive that he was on the slide. The next thing I knew, he was standing in the little stream, completely drenched from head to toe. He reluctantly got out of the water to walk back to the car with me, sopping wet. 

He seemed surprised to be sloshing around in wet socks and shoes, but he never even cried.

In his defense, it was the same stream that he "slurped" from during the summer.

I'm sure that colder temperatures and a full set of clothes made no difference to him.

I can never underestimate Nash's daring antics. I am caught so off guard sometimes because Blake would have never walked into a stream of water fully clothed when he was younger.

I didn't have any spare clothes in my car, so Nash spent the rest of the playdate in Blake's sweatshirt. Having no pants or shoes didn't slow him down one bit. Not surprisingly, I still chased him away from the water for the remainder of the morning.

Blog Design Giveaway

A few years ago, I became a nerd.

I absorbed myself with all sorts of tutorials on html coding. I learned how to reprogram the standard code to make my blog unique. Then, I started combining html coding with photoshop, and custom blog design became a passion of mine.

Some of my friends and family members have asked me for blog makeovers throughout the past year. Here are a few of the layouts that I have designed (click on each picture to be redirected to the site):

Each and every project has challenged me and made my hobby grow even more. The only problem is that I get so absorbed with each job that things like meals and my bedtime get neglected for a few days.

Even so, as a thank you to all of my faithful readers, I am doing a blog design giveaway. My style is typically clean and simple. I use a lot of clean lines, simple frames, and geometric patterns. I also only design for blogger blogs (no wordpress, sorry).

The blog design giveaway includes a 2 column design (with adjustable width), custom background, custom header, matching font color, custom sidebar titles, favicon, and installation. Custom signatures, tabs, post dividers, and blog buttons are optional.

If you like my style and are looking to spruce up your current blog design layout, all you have to do is leave me a comment.

The giveaway ends Friday, October 21st, at 11:59pm. I will announce the winner on Saturday morning.

Patch

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.

There were tractors.

And a corn maze. Nash was all about collecting dirty ears of corn.

One can probably guess what happened next.

There was hay throwing.

Which naturally led to reprimanding after one older brother got hay in one younger brother's eyes.

Blake can whip out a serious pout face.

Until he realizes that it's not going to work on me.

Our friends captured a little behind-the-scenes while we were testing the light on the hay ride; the holiday killer conveniently joining us straight from work at the very end (after trying the "I'm allergic to pumpkins" excuse), me switching lenses, and the boys off in la-la land (or devouring hand-sanitizer). Pretty typical.

And super classy with that porta-potty in the background.

Apparently all of the pictures were very funny.

Because everyone knows that the pumpkin patch is 10% picking out pumpkins and 90% taking fall ambiance pictures.