Pumpkin FUN!

Tonight we carved our pumpkins! It's lit and on our porch. We are ready for Halloween.

Happy Haunting to you and yours.

Make those Seeds!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin seeds
• Cooking spray, olive oil, or butter
• Optional: Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, or other seasoning of choice

Preparation:

Rinse pumpkin seeds. Use your fingers to remove all the pulp. Drain pumpkin seeds and discard pulp. Spread out on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.

Preheat oven to 250 F. Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil.

Toss pumpkin seeds in olive oil, butter, or spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, or your choice of seasonings. Toss to coat.

Bake about 1 hour, tossing every 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool pumpkin seeds before eating. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 months or refrigerate up to 1 year.

Our New Favorite Place...

Pine Acres~for hitting golf balls!
Here is Joey in action!

Off to the Pumpkin Patch

On Friday Joey's preschool class went to Greenbluff. Tom was on duty for chaperone as I was in California this past week for a PowerSchool Conference.

You may recall that at our earlier visit to Greenbluff Joey really wanted a huge pumpkin. I quickly responded with, "you'll have to wait for your dad". So as the field trip date approached Joey decided to "map" out what his pumpkin would look like. He took a butcher size piece of paper for this task...

On the field trip day I tried to prep Tom as to the size of the "free" pumpkin received on the field trip. During one of the rotating centers Joey quickly eyed where the big pumpkins could be located. As Joey stated, "First I got the little pumpkin, then I got the big pumpkin." And the big pumpkin he did choose, weighing in at 36 pounds, almost too heavy for him to really lift...I show you the PUMPKIN!

Kate is 9 Months!

Blessed indeed...this is my lil' Kate or as Joey says, "baby Kate". This is a picture taken at her 9 month check up. Are those legs not the cutest things? This is my dear friend's little one who had heart surgery...miracles do happen!

She continues to thrive and is now crawling and pulling herself up. And as you can see in this picture, pulling herself up to the mirror. Now, that's my girl!

To her momma, Jill, you are an amazing friend, wife and mommy. I am so impressed daily with your can do attitude. You truly inspire me. Take care of you.

XOXO

20 Weeks and Counting!

Introducing...Kathryn Grace, or at least that's the name we have all agreed to at the moment. We had an ultrasound last week and the doctor again confirmed it's a GIRL! Our due date is still Feb. 27th and Joey has even drawn a picture of his new sister. So far he's very excited about her. Tom is a bit concerned on how Joey will take it as so far it's just been him and the dog to share our time with.

I have had a few out of town girlfriends ask if I'm showing, and the answer is a definite YES. Here's the proof:


The family seems to be hanging in there. Tom misses beef since the only thing I'll eat is taco meat or meat sauce for spaghetti, otherwise I can't do the smell! My lower back is talking to me and my socks at the end of the day seem to be imprinted! Katie loves to press really hard against my tummy and try to make more space. I thought at first it was really sweet but now I'm not so sure! In her ultrasound pics she is doing the pike in yoga, legs over her head and then in the next shot she is curled in a ball, then feet out, then feet in....okay you get the idea, she doesn't stay very still. Hmm, maybe she's just like her mama!

Watch Out Tiger Woods!

Here comes....Joey! Daddy surprised us with a new set of left handed golf clubs just Joey's size, a bag and his very own golf glove to boot!

Joey is quite amazing if you haven't seen him in action. His little swing is something else! We are constantly retrieving his practice golf balls from the neighbor's yard! He can't wait to play at the real golf course. So far he has hit real "balls" at Pine Acres.

He's ready to go!

The first night he got them he set his golf bag in his room. Tom tucked him in and Joey was soon asleep. When I got home around 9 from class I peeked in his room and this is what I saw...

Sweet dreams Lil' Golfer!