The Larson Lingo: November 2013

I am so excited tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

It is one of my favorite holidays!

(Who am I kidding....I pretty much love every holiday!)

I haven't done an Instagram phone dump in awhile, so here is our Fall so far through my phone.

November is so, so, so pretty in Nor Cal. That is when Fall really shows up.

Wine, Ben & Jerrys and a Chick Flick. Gotta love a Girls Night In.

It has only rained a few times this Fall. We need more rain!

Fall means Pumpkin Bread every week. Recipe {HERE}

We have had such warm weather this Fall. All the kids on our court have been playing outside after school. Kiddos ages 2 thru 13, playing tag, riding bikes/scooters & climbing trees together. I know I have said this before, but I LOVE where we live.

Kate had a birthday party at the Roller Skating Rink. Her first time skating. How cute is the pipe helper? Totally helped out Kate.

I had a girls weekend in San Fran with 3 of the girls on my court (told you I LOVE where I live!)

We set up some cheese/wine by the firepit at our hotel.

Cocktails before dinner. I love lemon drops :)

We went to dinner at The Stinking Rose....can you say GARLIC?

SUCH a FUN night. Can't wait for our next girls weekend!

View from our hotel room. Can't complain.

We went wine tasting with Kevin's co-worker & his wife (Hi Brendan & Emily!)

So much fun.

Kristi Yamaguchi had a book signing at our library for her new children's book. So cute!

I also got to hear Bethany Hamilton speak at a Teen Esteem Event. She is a doll!

The day Luke turned 14 months old, we got the hosptial bill from his birth. UGH. So annoying.

14 months later?!?!? Really?!?!? Thankful for insurance, we only have to pay $1500 of an over $25,000 bill. Yikes.

Like Father, Like Son.

I am kind of obsessed with Brussel Sprouts. Roast them with some Balsamic in the oven. Ahhh. So good!

This kid is into EVERYTHING. Including getting into my spice rack. ALL THE TIME.

The fall colors have been so pretty lately, that I have been taking the kids on leaf hunts to view all the pretty leaves.

The Japaneese Maple in our front yard is slowly starting to turn. It's the last one on our court to change color. 4 of our neighbors have the same tree & theirs have been orange/red for weeks. Every year ours is the last & changes slowly. I love it.

The night we had our family photo shoot, Kevin & I had a date night since we were all dressed up!

Surprise, Surprise, I had a lemon drop ;)

I've mentioned it a few times before, but I am part of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Preferred Blogger Program.
What does that mean? They send me stuff to review!

They sent me a few salsas this month. Can't WAIT to share one of my go-to Fall/Winter recipes with you next month using Salsa.

Luke has been getting his 4 K-9 teeth for the past month. These are teeth 13-16 for him.

He was an amazing teether with the first 12 teeth. These ones? KILLING Me.

It's like having a newborn again. He wakes up every night crying because of his teeth.

So, either Kevin and I take him downstairs & give him a cheese stick to gnaw on.

The cold cheese helps his teeth. Then we put him back to bed. UGH. I want my good sleeper back!!!

I had my Rodan + Fields launch last week. I made my favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Caramel Bars. YUM. Need to blog the recipe.

I don't have any photos from my launch party, but it was FUN!

I had about 18 girls from my school over to hear about Rodan + Fields and to check out the products.

If you want to buy some products, click HERE

And, if you do want to buy products, I HIGHLY recommend signing up for PC Perks.

It is a one time fee of $19.95 and you get 10% off AND FREE shipping on all your orders.

You can sign up for PC Perks HERE.

I have only been doing this little business for a couple weeks and it has been so fun!

My team is growing! If you are interested in joining my team and earning a some extra spending money each month, send me an email:

melissa_larson17(at)yahoo.com

Last week I did a quick photo shoot for my sister & her little family.

How cute is Jack? He was born 6 weeks after Luke.

I have had so much fun photographing him the past 14 months.

This is my new favorite photo of him:

Family Fall bike rides to dinner:

My college roommate, her husband & their 7 month old baby girl came to stay with us over the weekend. They flew in from Boston (she is a professor at Harvard). We haven't seen them since last November when they came to visit. We had so much fun!

When we have guests over, I make Monkey Bread.

(I also make it every Christmas morning)

Recipe {HERE}

We have been having a mellow week at home enjoying the week off school for Thanksgiving Break. We stayed in our jammies until noon everyday this week.