A lazy weekend

We enjoyed a lazy fall weekend at our house. I had to work for a few hours on Saturday morning so Gramma Shelly & Grampa Greg came over to hang out with Peanut. After I got home, we did a fun activity of assembling the Halloween house I had purchased. I was at Michaels and found this foam kit for like $3 and thought Paige would like it. Should have bought more. She did really great at listening and had a lot of fun. There weren't any instructions and most of the pieces had stickers on the back side; so right up her ally.

Immense concentration was involved.
The finished product--a wonderful display.
Today was spent cooking, playing, etc. Paige enjoys home days just as much as I do and she makes a great mess of all her toys in the living room and loves to dress up. Today it was her Easter dress over her clothes (because its cold out) and she paired it with her cowboy boots and tiara. I think it was smartly accessorized. She hides from my camera on days like today--she must have some forsight that these pictures may come back and haunt her someday!

Glamour Queen part 2

Why does my 3 year old have better manicures/pedicures than I do? Plus, her jeans are way cuter than mine. Credit Kim for cute nails again.

"It didn't even hurt!"

(I cannot get this picture to rotate, sorry) Anyway, today marked Miss Paige's first trip to the dentist. It went amazingly well. This is her little bag of goodies she was so proud of--its amazing what joy a Snow White toothbrush, sparkly toothpaste, a sticker, and pencil can bring. We went first thing this morning and I commend the staff at the dentist office. Our hygenist did a great job of talking to Paige and telling her what all the tools did, why she wore a mask, etc. She got a good look at all 20 chompers and we have zero cavities. I was a little scared she'd have one--I had horrible teeth as a child. A quick look by the dentist confirmed our good teeth; and next year we'll get a cleaning.

We got to daycare just as another little girl's mom was coming out, and Paige told her "it didn't even hurt!" So I guess we aren't too scarred by the experience and will go back. I guess she told her little friends about the chair that goes up and down, the mirror that goes in your mouth, etc.

That white stuff. . .already

October 5th--we got about 5 or 6 inches of snow on top of some rain. That equals a really icky gravel road. However, by Tuesday afternoon the snow was gone. Yay! That left one disappointed 3 year old who loves snow.

Glamour queen

So we have a great daycare provider who is a former hairstylist. She usually has my child's hair looking 100% better than when I drop her off. The other bonus, she likes to paint Paige's nails. As a result, I have a 3 year old who sits wonderfully for this task and loves her toes painted. I picked her up the other day and saw her fingers had a bonus of little flowers on them. Stickers of some kind. Then I got to see the 'diamond' on her toe. One fell off but the other is still on--even the next day. I guess Paige walked around like her nails were wet for quite a while, afraid to ruin them. Additional bonus, it helps keep her from chewing her nails! Thanks to Kim!

Pretty, pretty

Not everyone can pull off sweatpants, a blue tutu and socks on their hands as gloves. Few princesses can do it. That's what she declared herself when I pulled out the blue tutu that Aunt Bobbi had sent down. She ran around in it for hours. It wasn't a tutu, it was a 'weird dress' she said. Anyway, thanks for the 'dress' Aunt Bobbi!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a fun filled Sunday in Bismarck including a stay at a hotel, swimming in its pool, a trip to the pumpkin patch, and a shopping excursion. Cowboy gets one free day and we take advantage of it. We got to Bismarck late on Sat. night, and someone was up and at 'em ready to go to the pool on Sunday morning right after breakfast. She only went down the water slide 2 or 3 times, but loved the adjacent pool that went from 8inches to 3 feet. It was perfect for her, and the water was abnormally warm. It was like bathwater. We had a lovely morning swimming.

Cowby and Paige on the slide.

This was our first trip to Papa's Pumpkin Patch in Bismarck and we will be going again if we are there at the right time. We were there for only an hour, but in the 40 mph wind today, that was suffice. There were great wooden things for kids to climb on, such as this combine. Cowboy and Paige loved it.


Lots of photos--including a lot that looked like this one--not the perfect shot!

Cowboy was creative with picture of a bale tunnel that a slide goes down. However, Paige didn't actually go down the slide--too high.

The pumpkin patch chair that everyone gets their picture taken on--we aren't one to argue with tradition.

We had a lovely time there; got to see the pumpkin catapult almost take out the channel 5 news crew, Paige got to pet some animals, and I resisted the urge to buy 10,000 pumpkins! Plus, we got winter gear for Miss P ranging from a new coat to boots so she'll be ready for winter. This is the first year I am prepared, so I am sure it won't even snow now.

I made it with squash. . .

What in the heck is that? Is it a mangled brain. . .dog vomit. . .or. . . mac-n-cheese made with squash? Correct answer is mac-n-cheese made with squash even though it looks like the others. I bought this cookbook called "Deceptively Delicious" last week and thougth I'd give it a try. Basically you puree a bunch of vegetables and freeze them; and then incorporate those purees into normal food your family eats--but they are none the wiser that they are really eating an additional vegetable. I spent my Monday evening creating purees out of squash, yams, and cauliflower--wasn't too challenging except for the fact that I have a very small food processor; so it took me a while to puree everything. But in my freezer are neatly labelled bags of those foods waiting to be incorporated. I have to admit, my family eats vegetables pretty well by themselves; its just sort of a cooking challenge for me to add these purees in when I can. Plus a few of the baked goods recipes don't have any oil in them; they use the purees instead. I'm game for saving calories and adding a little nutrition.

So tonight, I thought I'd make the mac-n-cheese to go with our sloppy joes. It cooked up really nice, I added the 1/2 cup of squash, and away we went. The recipe has cream cheese in it and I think that ruined it. It made it very sticky and that taste overpowered everything. I could have added liver and the cream cheese would have blocked that out. If I do this version again, I would omit the cream cheese and it would probably be better.

The verdict on how it tasted? Ryan--he ate it (I didn't tell him there was squash in it--he HATES squash). I ate a little bit, but didn't care for the consistancy. Paige--ate a few bites and ate 2 sloppy joes instead. So I don't think we'll make this version again.

I'm not going to abandon the concept, just this recipe. I am going to work my way up to the brownies that have spinach in them!