Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from my Cupcake, Ice cream cone & Whoopie Cushion.

Our Halloween was more Sweet than Spooky.

I like doing themes for Halloween (as long as they will let me)
This year, the theme was sweet treats, hence the Cupcake & Ice Cream Cone. 

I was going to have Luke be a tootsie roll, but then I found this Whoopie Cushion & just HAD to get it for him. He more gas than any other baby I know, so this costume was perfection.

I mean, seriously....how awesome is his costume? 
He's the cutest little fart I ever did see!

101.

 On Saturday, my Grammy turned 101.

Yes, you read that right One Hundred and One.

 It was also the first time that Grammy meet Luke. 

How amazing to meet your Great Grandma on her 101st birthday.

I will cherish that day for a long time.

What do you get someone who turns 101?

Well, we got her some of her favorite roses, pink (her favorite color) and orange (in honor of the Giants playing in the World Series) Grammy is a HUGE sports fan and at 101, she still loves watching the Giants and 49ers play.

 And, of course a balloon, because my girls don't think it's a birthday without balloons.

 Last year, on her 100th birthday, we had a pretty big birthday bash.

But this year, we kept it more mellow.

Before dinnner, we had Grammy's favorite drink, Cranberry Vodka!

Cheers to 101 years!

 If you have read about Grammy on my blog before, you know that her advice for a long life includes having a Cranberry Vodka every day for happy hour! I'll drink to that!

We had a lovely steak dinner & cupcakes/cake for dessert.

 

 We sang Happy Birthday as the Giants won Game 3 of the World Series! (And, can we pause for a moment to mention the Giants sweeping the Tigers to win the World Series?!?!? YES!!!!)

 Grammy now has 10 Great Grand Children. 5 girls & 5 boys.

Grammy definitely doesn't have the energy that she used to.

I can really see a decline in her from that last time we saw her a few months ago.

She still lives on her own (which I think is incredible!) But, her hearing is fading and her eyesight is getting really bad. When you are 101, your body just starts to shut down.

Happy 101st Birthday Grammy.

Click HERE to read more about Grammy.

 

I am so thankful we got to celebrate Grammy and I am truly in awe of her.

She is amazing. 101. Wow.

More Friday Funnies

Happy Friday!

It's time for some more Friday Funnies!

In June, I posted some of my favorite Someecards, and I have discovered some new ones that make me giggle.

I am SOOOO ready for the Election to be over. 

I am just not a political person, so this was perfect for me:

And, this is also true. Election year means it's also the Olympic year!

I've been back to school for over 2 weeks now. Last week was conference week & I had to conference with students who I have only known for a week. {awkward}

This card was PERFECT:

And, this is perfect for some of the emails my middle school students send me. 

They email me using text talk. Yikes.

Thank you, Tegan for showing me this card. Love it!

And by unconsious, I mean sleeping children. Right? Right.

This one is hysterical...I am 33 not 13, I shouldn't like his songs...(even if they do get stuck in my head!)

Love the birthday cards:

I am really good about remembering people's birthdays, it is one of my special talents.
I am kind of a freak show about birthdays/dates. Although, Facebook reminders are nice!

Speaking of birthdays and old people...My Grammy turns 101 tomorrow!!!

(Don't worry, she hasn't been driving for years!)

I know this isn't a Someecard, but it is funny.

My brother in law is a HUGE Dodgers Fan (ugh) and our whole family are Giants fans. 

My cousin posted this after the Giants won the NLCS. So funny (to me!)

And, this also makes me smile. It was posted after Game 1 of the World Series when Pablo Sandoval (who's nickname is Panda) hit 3 homeruns.

I am sorry if you are sick of me posting about Giants Baseball, we are just big fans. 

The World Series will be over next week, so just bear with me for a few more days :)

Hope you have a GREAT Friday and a wonderful weekend.

I can't wait to for Luke to meet his Great Grammy tomorrow on her 101st Birthday!!!
It's going to be a big birthday bash! You only turn 101 once!

Happy weekend, friends!

Pumpkin Bars

2 years ago, my friend Becky and I went to Bakerella's CakePops book signing at Williams-Sonoma. 

We had so much fun meeting Bakerella!

While we were waiting in line, the wonderful employees at Williams Sonoma passed out pumpkin bars for us to eat while we waited. 

The pumpkin bars were DELICIOUS!

They also handed out the recipe!

 I thought I would share it with you, because I'm nice like that!

I have slightly tweaked the recipe, because their recipe calls for Pecan-Pumpkin Butter that is only available at their store. Their jar of Pecan Pumpkin Butter is $12!!!!! Um, No.
I love you Williams Sonoma, but spending $12 on Pumpkin Butter is not in my budget.

I was thrilled when I found Pumpkin Butter at Trader Joes for less than $3! Score!

{If you don't have a Trader Joe's near you, I am so sorry, you are missing out! But, you can buy the expensive Pecan Pumpkin Butter at Williams Sonoma or you could try and make your own Pumpkin Butter.  You need about 1 1/4 cups for this recipe.}

Pumpkin Bars

18.25 oz. package yellow cake mix, set aside 1 cup

1/2 cup butter, melted

3 large eggs

Jar of Pumpkin Butter (I use the 10 oz jar from Trader Joe's)

2 T milk

1 T flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan. I use Pam Baking Spray.

Divide cake mix, placing all but 1 cup in a mixing bowl:

 Stir the melted butter and one egg into the cake mix until combined:
Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan:

In a bowl, mix pumpkin butter with two eggs and milk:

Stir until combined:

 Spread pumpkin mixture over pressed cake mix:

 Stir the reserved 1 cup of cake mix with the flour, sugar, and cinnamon:

Then add the softened butter & mix together until crumbly with a pastry cutter:

Sprinkle over the top of the pumpkin layer:

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until golden brown:

Cool and cut into squares:
Enjoy!

Seriously, these are SO good! I had to resist eating the whole pan while watching the Giants play last night!
World Series, baby!!!
These past 2 weeks of baseball playoffs have been causing me to stress eat & bake.
But, it seems to be working...Giants are doing awesome!!
Let's hear it for the Giants!
And, let's hear it for these Pumpkin Bars....YUM.
Go make some. NOW.

Pumpkin Patch or Bust.

Well, it was a BUST.

The weather has finally cooled down, so it was time to take our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Usually, my mom and I take the kids after school during the week because the patch is vacant at that time. There are no crowds & it is GREAT.

We planned on going this week, but because of a rainy forecast  (YAY!!) Kevin & I made a last minute decision to go on Sunday afternoon.

It was a TOTAL BUST.

It was SO crowded. I mean people EVERYWHERE.

And, it was windy. Dust flying everywhere, in our eyes & we could barely look up at times.

Did I mention it was crowded? And apparently, when you go on the weekend, you have to PAY for things like the corn maze & hay rides. When we go during the week, all that stuff is FREE.

We were so miserable, we only stayed at the patch for 30 minutes. 

Despite our short time at the patch, I managed to get some pictures of the patch. 

One of my favorite things to photograph is pumpkins!

My whole objective while at the patch was to get a cute pic of all 3 kids with pumpkins around them.

Because it was so crowded, people kept (unintenially) photo bombing our picture.

This was the best I could get & it's not good. Ha! But, it is real life people.

Luke was asleep, so I thought I would get some of him by himself.

FAIL. He woke up & was MAD.

 He probably didn't like all that dust blowing on him, so Kevin rescued him.

He remained in his stroller for the rest of the time. 

(Here is a comparrison pic of Claire & Luke in the same outfit from her first time to the patch)

We attempted to go to the corn maze & the hay ride, but there were lines & it was a rip off, so we just walked around checking out the free stuff.

Farm animals....my favorite. {insert sarcasm}

I did have fun photographing pumpkins & gourds!

The girls played around on the fake animals & then we were outta there!

Luke was much happier once we got home (and once I took the ridiculous pumpkin hat off him)

So there you have it, our 2012 trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

Going to the Pumpkin Patch truly is one of my favorite things to do, but just not on the weekend.

I am never, ever, ever, ever going on the weekend again! 

I am glad I had the girls in bright colored matching shirts because I could easily spot them when they ran off into the crowds of people. Yikes.

I think I was too sleep deprived & cranky to deal with all the crowds & people that were there.

Can't wait to go next year.....on a weekday afternoon! 

Who's with me?