A Pumpkin Kind of Saturday

Our theme on Saturday was pumpkins.  It wasn't really intentional.  It just kind of worked out that way.  We started our day with pumpkin pancakes.

 

 

They were delicious!!! They weren't horribly unhealthy either.  I found the recipe here. We had five leftover that I stuck in the freezer.   I love having fun breakfast treats in the freezer.  It's so handy to grab a homemade waffle, pancake, or muffin from the freezer for an on-the-go breakfast.

 

 

After pancakes and a little lounging, we headed to the pumpkin patch.  Now, I know some people go all out and go long distances to remote locations for this.  Maybe, one day we'll go to one of those popular farms out in the country, but for now, we stick close.  This is our second year to go and take J to the St. John the Apostle United Methodist Church's annual pumpkin patch.   We had a great time!!!

 

 

 

 

 

After our pumpkin patch visit, Aaron and I got our flu shots.  Woohoo!!!

 

Then, we headed to RaRa and GPa's for some brisket sandwiches and some UT football!!!  It was a pretty good day for the Longhorns and the Red River Rivalry.  Here's the guys!!!  If you can't tell they were pretty excited about the win!!!  See that burnt orange.  It's kind of a pumpkin color, so we are sticking with a theme here.  LOL!!!

 

 

One last thing:  I wanted to show you a comparison from last year to this year.

 

 



Look how much my boy has grown!!!

Our week in Photos

The weekend is coming to an end, and I realized I haven't posted our photos for this past week.  With Instagram at my fingertips, I feel like I am documenting things a lot better.  Because of that, I forget that I haven't put them on here.  If you follow me on Instagram, some of these will be old news.  If you don't follow me, click on the Instagram button on the right hand side of this page, and it will take you to my Instagram page.  Pretty cool, huh?

 

Eating mama's homemade pumpkin bread.

Speech therapy with Ms. Nancy

McDonald's lunch with Daddy
This little boy wouldn't eat his Happy Meal!!!

Trip to Walmart.  J got a glowing pumpkin on a stick.

Enjoying the beautiful Fall afternoon.

J loves pushing his stroller.

Before heading to Meema's Thursday morning, J stopped to watch the trash truck.
One of his favorite things to do!!!

Truly the best part of my day after a full day of work.

Playing in Daddy's truck.

Dinner out Friday night at Abuelo's.  J entertained himself with the tortilla holders.
J loves a good lid!!!

Sunday night small group
J was walking around the gym just like a big kid.

We opted to come home and eat after small group. 
J ate a little before we left, so we came home and had cold cereal.
A first for J!!!  Cereal of choice- Banana Nut Cheerios!!!

Up next on the blog: Pumpkin Patch Photos!!!

Five on Friday

I haven't spent near enough time on my blog lately, and I have been missing it!  It's crazy how in just a few months I have grown to really love my little piece of the internet.  I wasn't sure when I started that I would stick to it, but surprisingly I have.  For full disclosure, I am writing this while J is napping.  I have million things I could and should be doing around my house like cleaning, but is that what I am doing.  NOPE!!! 

So here are my FIVE for the week-

-ONE-

Because we now have IPhones, I am in love with Instagram!!!  I know lots of people have been using this forever, but to me it's a fun, new thing.  I don't have many followers, but at this point that doesn't even matter.  I love this app!!!  It's the coolest thing!!!  I HEART Instagram and the amazing camera on the IPhone.

 

-TWO-

 

Cinnamon Smore cake is so yummy!!!  I got the recipe from my fav, Mix and Match Mama.  This was originally cupcakes, but I modified and made it into a bundt cake.  It didn't disappoint.   Get the recipe here.

 

-THREE-

 

This is a picture of the bulletin board in my classroom/office.  This bulletin board is actually an old 1960's green chalkboard that I was covering up to add some warmth to my space.  This is what I walked into see this morning.  All that scotch tape isn't holding it up anymore!!! So annoying!!! Now, I have to figure out how to get it back up to stay up.  Not exactly a project I am looking forward to revisiting.  I haven't even had time to decorate the board.  You think I have time to redo this part!!!  Ugh!!!

 

-FOUR-

I am a little embarrassed to admit it, but I secretly kind of like this show.  I don't really sit down and watch it, but Aaron has been watching this non-stop via DVR for the last 4 weeks.  It's on at night while I'm looking at the internet or working on something for school.  I haven't seen every episode by any means.  I get up and leave the room, but let me tell this show is really good.  I mean it's really bad, but it's really good, if you know what I mean.  I don't know everything, but I know enough to stop every so often and ask Aaron what's going on with this or that character.  Seriously, if there were Oscars for TV, Bryan Cranston, would win hands down!!! No question.

 

 

-FIVE-

 

I can't have a five of anything without a picture of my favorite little guy.  He seriously is the best thing in the whole world!!!  LOVE!!!

 

 



 

Crocktober Link Up: Hawaiian Chicken

I am sharing one of my all time favorite recipes.  My mom made this chicken while I was growing up, and it turned into being one of my favorites and most requested.  In fact, this exact chicken dish is what I requested as my first meal home from college all the way back in November of 1999.  After weeks and weeks of nasty Henderson dining hall food mixed in with trips to Taco Bell and Chickfila, this chicken never tasted so good.

When my mom makes this, she bakes it in the oven.  However, now that I am making it. This chicken is one of my crockpot rotations.  Either way you make it- oven or crockpot- you will love it!!!

Ingredients:
3 to 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz. Russian dressing
1 packet of onion soup mix
3 T. apricot preserves
1 medium onion chopped

Place crockpot liner in crockpot.  Layer your thawed chicken breasts and top with chopped onion.  In a separate bowl, mix dressing, onion soup mix, and preserves.  Pour mixture over chicken and onion.  Cook on High for 2 to 3 hours or on Low for 4 to 5 hours.

I always serve this over brown rice.  My mom always made this delicious skillet rice that had almonds and green onions in it.  Whether you do plain or fancy rice, you will love this chicken and it's sauce!!! 

 

As you can see, I dug into my chicken before I remembered to take a picture!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally did it!!!

Yes.  That is correct.  We have now entered the world of smart phones.  An IPhone 4s to be exact.  After much thought and number crunching, we got rid of our ordinary cell phone for a snazzy one.  And I must say it's AMAZING!!!  I love the camera and don't get me started on Instagram.  I've seen other people's Instagram pics on Facebook, but I never really got it.  Can I say it's SUPER cool!!! Plus, ICloud!!! I now have ICloud on my PC, so I can just open up my photo stream, save it to my folders on my desktop, and I'm done.  No camera cords!!! Seriously, it's genius!!!

That's our big news for the weekend.  We got IPhones!!!

 

On Friday night, my parents watched J overnight, so Aaron and I could have an evening to ourselves.  Aaron really wanted to see the movie, Gravity, with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  We went to Studio Movie Grill and watched the movie and ate.  The movie did not disappoint. It was amazing!  I think Sandra Bullock deserves an Oscar for this.  On Saturday morning, we got our IPhones.  Spending an hour and a half in the AT&T store would not have been J friendly, so we chose to take care of that without him.  We had every intention to come home and clean out the garage, but that didn't happen.  By the time we finished up with our IPhone purchase, it was 11:30 and not really enough time to tackle that project.  After we got J, we kind of played on our IPhones during his nap and lounged around the house.  I also made a batch of pumpkin bread that was delicious!!! 

 

Another newsworthy development is that it appears fall has finally arrived in Texas.  Saturday morning it turned chilly, and it's been wonderful.  I actually wore my boots to church this morning.  Might have been overkill, but you gotta take it while you can around these parts.

 

Sunday lunch with my boys.

 

This afternoon we went to the Cowboys game with my parents.  It was a fun game.  If you ask Aaron, you will get a different story because we lost!  

 

 

 

Then, we went back over to Meema and PopPop's to pick up J, and I took a few other pics of my little man.  Isn't he the cutest?

 

 Cherry pie!!!

 Look at that face!!!

 

Can I just say that this kid is killing me in the food department!!!  He has gotten so picky!  Even foods he usually loves,  he will turn his nose up to.  It makes it very frustrating when making dinner!!!

 

So that's our weekend in a nutshell!!! The weekend of the IPhone!!!