the beauty of a front-load washer...

The two-year-old can get a load started on her own...

more Halloween fun!

So, the microwave has been fixed since Friday, yet in the whole time it was down, I never posted any additional recipes beyond the white chili. One day, I'll share the rest of my favorite, non-microwave, yet still easy recipes, but for today, I thought I'd share one that is a huge pain in the butt, but oh so yummy and festive:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds


1/2 stick melted butter
2 tsp. salt
cleaned pumpkin seeds

Mix butter and salt. Pour over pumpkin seeds in bowl and stir to coat every seed. Bake in a single layer on a cookie sheet for 30-45 minutes at 350°.

I roasted ours for the kids after carving pumpkins yesterday and, after discovering what a giant, time-consuming project it is, made sure to call my mom to thank her for making them for us every year while growing up. The end result makes it all worth it, though...well, almost.

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Now, on to the pumpkin carving!

Prep...drawing the faces:
Time to open them up:

Daddy has to do this part:

They got tired of watching Daddy carve:

The final result:

Halloween fun!

Last weekend, we decided to test out the kids' Halloween costumes and head to a neighboring town for a Halloween fest. They close off the streets of the downtown for trick-or-treating, crafts, food, etc. When we arrived, there was a line down the street for trick-or-treating. After waiting for a significant amount of time without moving forward, we decided we were going to miss everything else if we stayed in the line and told the kids we'd just buy them candy on the way out of town.Before leaving the line, though, a couple of local firefighters came and found Sam since they heard there was a fireman in line. We were lucky enough to get them to pose for a pic with him...that's two years in a row! (Last year, Halloween just happened to fall on garbage day and Sam just happened to be dressed as a garbage man and we just happened to have the best sitter in the world who was able to snag a couple of photos when the truck arrive to collect her trash...talk about the planets aligning for that kid.)
After we abandoned the trick-or-treating, we headed down the street to get our dinner from a coworker's food trailer. I have to say that it was the best carnival food I've ever had. The chicken we got for the kids' was amazing, although, Grace was just fine with passing on the chicken and fries and heading straight to the funnel cake (can't say I blame her...it was divine).

From there, we met up with a few more firefighters to check out the fire truck that was parked on one of the side streets (we were tipped off by the guys who were so gracious to be in the photo in line). Sam and Grace were ecstatic to get to sit inside of it! You'll notice Sam isn't smiling in the pic, though...that's because he was all business proclaiming, "We're on our way!" in his best fireman voice.
On our walk back to the car, Sam spotting Smokey the Bear working his way through the crowd. He made it clear right off the bat that he was not interested in going to see him. He said he thought he might be a little scared of him. Grace, on the other had, was adamant about meeting our friendly educator of fire safety in the forest. So, we marched over to meet Smokey and as he turned to greet Grace with a hug, she lost it...I totally knew that was going to happen, so she was even more upset when I couldn't contain my smile. What's a fun family event if at least one kid doesn't get freaked out by a giant bear costume, right?

And we didn't even have to stop anywhere to buy the kids the candy they were so pumped to get. A few of the vendors started to realize that all the kids in line were never going to make it through the tents, so they ventured out into the crowd and passed out candy to any kid they came across, including Sam and Grace. Fun prep for the big day this Friday...the countdown has begun in our house!

photoshoot with mom

Seriously...do I really need to hire a professional photographer just to get a picture of them in their Halloween shirts? Maybe we'll try again this weekend...

future homemaker of america

This evening, I went down to the basement to let the kids know dinner was ready. Upon rounding the corner, I found Grace with a perfectly folded pile of wipes on the floor next to her on the right and on the left a huge, rumpled pile of the rest of the wipes out of the package.

She is often pulling all the wipes out of the package, so, exasperated, I ask her, "Grace, what are you doing?!"

She casually responds, "Folding laundry."

Oh, in that case, let me go grab the basket full of clean clothes that has been sitting in the upstairs hallway for three days...

the food chain

Riding in the car this evening Sam was talking about how he saw some coconuts on his "fall walk" at school the other day. Since we don't exactly live in the tropics, I questioned it, trying to figure out what he actually saw. After a few questions, he confirmed, "coconuts, like squirrels eat."

I tried to let him down easy and said, "I'm not sure squirrels eat coconuts. I don't think they do."

He pondered for a moment, then let me down easy, "Sorry mommy. I think they do."

And I couldn't really fight that...

public service announcement...

When we moved into this house, we had to pick appliances as we were moving into a new build. The builder had already installed the dishwasher that he had chosen. So, naturally, we decided to go with the family of Frigidaire appliances that matched the already existing dishwasher.

We soon figured out that the dishwasher was really not that wonderful. It had less space than our old, less expensive dishwasher and nothing ever comes out looking really clean.

We were also annoyed by the refrigerator whose doors are hung crooked and whose kick plate won't stay on. Even the logo is mounted askew. About 6 weeks ago, we replaced the filter in the fridge only to have it decide to freak out and spit water and ice all over the kitchen for several minutes while every light on the thing flashed incessantly at us. We furiously searched the manual and learned how to force quit everything. After we cleaned up the kitchen and let it rest for a few hours, we tried the water and ice feature again and it worked fine. It has not happened again, but at least once a week at work since, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach wondering if the refrigerator is busy flooding our house while I am busy at work.

The last straw came this past Monday, though. I turned on the microwave to heat up a portion of our dinner and it sounded like a jet was landing in our kitchen. Needless to say, it did not heat the food. We called the appliance distributor who came out the next day (Tuesday) to confirm the busted part and said they'd get back to us. Haven't heard from them since, so I'll be bugging them a couple of times a day every day next week because if I don't get some damn PopSecret Homestyle popcorn in me soon, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown.

So, I'm focusing on meals for the past few days and the next several days that do not require the assistance of a microwave. This is pretty tough in a house with two small children and two working-full-time parents. And since my mother-in-law requested some of these recipes recently, I've decided to share them here, so all readers can have the chance to enjoy them. First up, a fall favorite, because who doesn't love chili in the fall?

White Chili

2 or 3 boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1 cup of chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 24 oz jar of Northern beans
1 15 oz. can of chicken broth
1/2 cup of water
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 can of diced tomatoes or 2 small fresh tomatoes

Brown chicken; saute onions, celery and garlic in butter for about 1 minute.
Add chicken broth, water and remaining ingredients.
Simmer for about one hour.

In the last 15 minutes, add diced tomatoes.
Thicken with 2 Tablespoons of flour mixed with cold water.
Garnish bowls with a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheddar.

Enjoy!

fall fun in Kentucky

We've recently discovered the place to be in the month of October in our (relatively) new city. Keeneland is a race track just outside of Lexington that is only open for racing during the months of April and October. Somehow, we missed April's season...still slightly overwhelmed with the new house, the new city, the new daycare, the new job and job setting. So, once October rolled around, our friends, Tim & Liz and Erin & Greg, made sure to get us to the fall races.

I really didn't have high expectations, since the only horse racing experience I've ever had is at Thistledown just outside of Cleveland and if I had to describe in one word, I'd have to choose "gross". Keeneland is the complete opposite...the place was amazingly clean for the amount of people who gather there on any given race day. It was great people watching and fun for all ages...I know I sound like a commercial, but it's true! Plus, instead of sitting in the middle of industry, it overlooks farm fields for miles. It's lovely.

Opening weekend, a couple of my old college roommates, Sarah and Karyn, were down for a visit, so the three of us headed out to meet up with Tim and Liz for a kidless afternoon. We had a great time. Here's Sarah placing her first bet:
The three of us:
This was taken before the race...don't let their smiling faces fool you...a few minutes later, not a dime was won by either:

One week later, I returned to Keeneland with Kris and the kids in tow. We met up with Tim & Liz, again, and Erin & Greg to first tailgate in the picturesque parking lot before heading in to watch the races. Yes, I said "picturesque" about a parking lot...check it out:
Sam and Grace with their pal, "Mr. Greg":
Before heading inside, Sam enjoyed a Halloween cookie, then showed off his purple "lipstick":
Grace relaxing in the grand stand:
Sam and Grace really loved the races. By the time we left, everyone around us was betting on the numbers coming out of Sam's mouth...his favorite was number 5, who actually placed in the top three for three of the races we watched. Since our stubborn little girl refused to fall asleep there as we had hoped, though, we left after just a few races.

Can't wait to check this place out again in the spring!

in the spirit of the holiday season

Halloween, that is. Because if there's one thing we can surely excel at, it would be looking ridiculous for one day out of the year (at least).

those darn kids...

Wanted to share a couple of recent photos of the kids since both stemmed from events that made me chuckle.

Arrrr, Matey! Look closely and you'll see that
Grace stuck a sticker to the inside of her
sunglasses to make a patch, then ran around
the house proclaiming she was a pirate.

Walked downstairs the other day to find "Bob the Builder"
standing in the power plant he'd just constructed.
He said he was going to work. Notice the smoke stacks?

say a little prayer...

The Nemec family needs your prayers. Please offer them tonight...as many as possible.

no butts about it...

To the woman with the three children you were ignoring at the park today:

I don't care if you smoke. Hell, I used to do it myself. But, maybe you could think twice before you light up at a children's playground, ten feet away from where my child just started playing with the manual excavator. What you did today was inappropriate, inconsiderate, rude and unacceptable. Because, even if I did enjoy it in the past, I'd rather my children not be exposed to secondhand smoke and I'd really prefer they do not pick up this habit in the future. So the only one I will be apologizing to for loudly stating to Sam that it was disgusting and that we needed to go play on the slide for awhile is Sam. He doesn't particularly care for being hustled away from his absolute favorite feature at the park.

Daddy's girl...

Grace and her Daddy

visitors!

This past weekend, Kris' parents drove down from MI for a visit. We had a fun couple of days including venturing out to a local orchard for some fall festivities. A few pics from the weekend are below. Thanks for coming down, Grandma Sharon and Papa Mike!

At Evan's Orchard...Sam & Grace were a little preoccupied
trying to see which animal they were.

Sam loving the giant slide...Grace only went down once
and said, "that was too scary for me"

In the petting zoo

pony girl, pony girl...Sam decided against a pony ride and
instead returned to the giant slide and the corn maze with Mommy

playing the tea party game with Grandma Sharon

reading a bedtime story with Papa Mike