short stories

 We dressed as Kelly, Screech, and Zach from Saved by the Bell for Trunk of Treats, which was on the Sunday before Halloween.  Marcus made the huge phone to complete Owen's costume.  I made the Bayside shirt for myself with an iron-on and a little help from my crafty husband.  It was a little chilly and Owen didn't need much candy...note his little treat bag, so we didn't stay too long.  It was a good time, though.
On Halloween night, I was able to get off work at 6 instead of 7.  I cooked dinner and Marcus and Owen took care of the Trick or Treaters.  Owen was fascinated with all the dressed up kids.  He just hung out by the window-and tried to sneak candy-most of the night.

I burned the cupcakes the night before (and may have cried about it a little), so Marcus picked up some from a local cupcake shop. They were fantastic.  We had tropical, vanilla bean, and chunky monkey.

Actually he's 2 years and 1 week, but who's counting? Last weekend was wonderful and I have several upcoming posts about the fun things we did.  Owen had his two year old checkup last Friday. He is 35 inches tall (70th percentile) and weighs 27 lbs 8 oz (50th percentile).  He was so silly during the appointment.  Our doctor said, "I can see that he is active" and I told her that he is actually very laid back most of the time.  I guess he just wanted to show off!  He has been saying the funniest things lately.


-At his doctor's appointment, she asked him what he likes to eat and he said, "Butterflies".

-Last night he was looking at a toys r us ad with Marcus and said "wow" about every page and then said "I happy".

-Tuesday morning, he said "Mama cry" so I pretended to cry and he said, "Hush, mama hush".

-If he burps and I ask if he has a bubble in his tummy, he says, "I coughed"-like he doesn't want to admit that he burped.


He is also very interested in Razorback football.  He loves to say "Razorback touchdown" and gets upset if he can't find his hat or football.  He really enjoys watching videos of the marching band on you tube with Marcus and calling the hogs.  I never imagined I would love being a boy mom so much! : ) More birthday posts to come.

I took off today since Owen's daycare is closed for Columbus Day. A five day weekend is a nice treat.  Unfortunately, it was Marcus's weekend to work.  He has had a really good attitude, but I feel a little guilty about my long weekend, while he has to work twelve days in a row...Here are a few highlights:  Thursday and Friday were pretty lazy.  Owen and I stayed at home and then ran a few errands.  Saturday, we went to Hobby Lobby and Walmart and I bought a few things for Owen's birthday party. I'm getting so excited about it!  That night we had some friends over for a sushi dinner. We recently attended a sushi making class and wanted to try out our skills.  We let each person make a roll and we all tried each one.  They were all really good and it was such a fun way to hang out with friends.

I love trying new foods.  I'm always pinning new recipes and have finally gotten around to trying a few.  Here are some we really enjoyed:

 These really were easy and good- a fun weekend dinner. I loved the cabbage and cilantro in them.

Marcus saw that I had this pinned and asked why I hadn't make it yet.  It required buying several new spices, but now that we have those, it would be inexpensive to make again.  I was impressed at how good it was and that I made something that tasted like it was from an Indian or Thai restaurant.  One of the spices is very bright yellow, so cleaning up took a little extra time.  Definitely worth it though.

I had the next two recipes at a baby shower.  I had already pinned the dip and went right home and pinned the popcorn.

This dip is amazing!! It is only a few ingredients and has very little fat.  Marcus says the name is silly and not manly enough, so I need to come up with something else to call it.  I served it at girls Bible study with wheat thins and tortilla chips.  I had it for lunch the following day with saltine crackers.  Owen liked it too (he loves all dips).


This is soooo easy and so good.  It is only 3 ingredients.  I think I would half the recipe next time, because it made 2 9x13 baking dishes full.  I finally had to throw it away, because I couldn't keep myself from getting some every time I went into the kitchen.  This would be great to make for a teacher's gift and put in a cute container or to take as a dessert to a potluck.

Marcus did an impression of me the other night and it sounded like this, "I love fall, pumpkins, pumpkins, fall, fall, I love October, Owen's birthday is in October, pumpkin spice frappuccino, pumpkins, fall..." I started thinking about fall stuff on Labor Day weekend, but promised him I would wait until October to start decorating.  I made it until September 27.  I did wait until October 2 to dress Owen in his personalized pumpkin shirt for daycare. Fall makes me so happy.  I love the excitement of all the upcoming holidays, the changing colors outside, and the cooler weather.