Happy Haunting!

Taylor (rocker chic)

Carter (zombie)

Lauren (bat girl)

Maggie (witch) & Lauren

Check out all that candy!!!!

The BEST part about food shopping!

One thing that I really do NOT enjoy is grocery shopping. Because of this, I only go every two weeks; so, when I do shop, I always buy A LOT of food! (Not to mention I like to have extra stuff on hand). It seems that someone always comments on how much I'm buying. I get asked things like: "How many kids DO you have?" or "Are you having a party?" You get the idea. I even get comments at Costco...can you believe that?! The bulk capital of shopping! (It's a little irritating)SO, I always reward myself with one of these babies...

Lucky for me there's a great little smoothie shop in the grocery store!!! Nothing beats a strawberry smoothie :)

Christian and Stephanie Nielson

I have been following this story since August and have grown to love this family even though I do not know them. Their names are Stephanie & Christian Nielson and they need your prayers. They were in a plane crash on August 16th and both have severe burns. You can read about their story here:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/10/26/20081026sisters1026a1.html

Stephanie's blog is http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/
Her sister Jane updates their progress on her blog at http://blog.cjanerun.com/

She is an amazing woman and example.

A Little Pick Me Up

My sister-in-law posted the funniest song on her blog! It is definately worth your time to check it out.

Just click on the link below:
http://ac-and-kids.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-favorite-things.html

Enjoy!

Taco Pizza

Because of my aversion to tomatoes, I only put them on half of the pizza! :)

I was craving taco pizza today so I went online and found a recipe and made it for dinner tonight. It was a hit...delicious! So, here's the recipe:

I used my own dough recipe:

CRUSTY PIZZA DOUGH

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. olive oil
2 1/2 - 3 cups all-purpose flour (I use 2 cups whole wheat, 1 cup all-purpose flour)
1 Tablespoon cornmeal


Dissolve yeast in very warm water in mixer bowl. Add salt, olive oil, and flour. Mix well. Knead . Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for about 1 hour (until double in size). Punch down. Brush 14 inch pizza pan with oil and sprinkle with cornmeal. Roll dough out and press against bottom of pan forming a collar around edge to hold toppings.


TACO PIZZA
Base:
2/3 cup taco sauce
2/3 cup pizza sauce
1/4 cup re-fried beans
1 package taco meat seasoning
1 lb ground beef (I used fat free ground turkey)
1 - 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (I used more than that!)


Topping (after baking):
shredded cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce
chopped tomato
sliced black olives
sliced green onion
sour cream (I did not use sour cream)


Brown beef in skillet. Drain. Mix in packet of taco seasoning and water as per the instructions on the packet. Mix taco sauce, pizza sauce, and re-fried beans together and spread on pizza dough. Put a layer of mozzarella cheese over sauce. Place taco meat over cheese and then another layer of mozzarella cheese over meat. Bake at 480 degrees for 11-15 minutes.


Once out of the oven, cut pizza and top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, gr. onion, olives, cheddar cheese, and sour cream.


I served it with all fruit smoothies...

Enjoy!

Piano Recital

Saturday night Taylor and Carter had their piano recital. It was Carter's first one! They played a duet together and Taylor played one with another student.

Taylor & Carter practicing before the recital...

Their Performances...

Mall Mascarade

For the Young Men and Young Women's activity last night, they had what they call a mall mascarade. This is how it works, the kids arrive at the mall, are divided into groups (each group had an adult with them), and given a list of people they are supposed to find (whom are disguised). When they find the person, they have to get their signature. I was one of the lucky ones who got to get all dressed up...

It was so funny...especially when Taylor's group found me! The look on her face was priceless. If only I'd had a picture of that. The mall security guard kept an eye on me most of the night...I think he was suspicious!

Lauren's Pumpkin

A bit under the weather...

I couldn't find Carter today and then realized he was curled up on the couch asleep....turns out he is sick. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow so he can go to school as I have a friend visiting from out of town and we are supposed to go to lunch!

Does it really matter?

Sometimes, I get so busy and wrapped up in the things that I feel I have to get done that I don't enjoy the things that really matter. I have been following a blog of a stranger actually, who lost her little boy, at the age of one, in June. Today, when I went to her blog at http://dbkunz.blogspot.com/ I read this:

"Now that I am 3 months out I can see the changes in my life since Daxton's passing. I yell at my kids less, my house isn't always clean (but I have more time to do it) but it isn't number one, I don't run as many errands, and the day to day things are more precious to me. I have more compassion for those who are suffering from any trial or circumstance in their life. While I didn't consider myself less than compassionate, I now have a new understanding of grief, trials, growing, and increasing faith from life changing events or just the "average" trial in a person's life."

Although I have not met this family, I have learned many things from her. I am grateful for the reminder...as I am witnessing how quickly children grow and I want to look back and feel like I focused and put my energy into the things that are most important to me...

Lake Austin

Last Friday, Dave and I spent the evening on Lake Austin with some friends and then had Mexican at Chuy's (an Austin favorite). I love being out on the lake...it's like a different world. We had a great time! Although at one point, Dean almost flipped the boat but hey, it happens, right? Thanks Aleece & Dean for inviting us!

~The Matheny's, Park's, & Wilcox's~

Dave used to work right down by this bridge. He had a great view.

~Halli & Joy~

Darrell even did a little skiing.

Thank you Grandma Matheny!!!

Dave's mom is very talented and has made us some very beautiful quilts through the years. For our birthdays this year she made us all a T.V. quilt! Dave lucked out since his birthday is in January so he got his first....

Lauren got hers last February...it's a dog quilt.

Taylor and Carter got theirs while we were in Oregon in August...

This is the back of Carter's quilt.

And I got mine on my birthday! Yippee!!!!

Doesn't she do beautiful work? Thank you Grandma! We LOVE them and will treasure and use them for years to come.