The kids and I spent the weekend at my parents. We enjoyed so many things about this weekend! Most of all seeing Dad and Mom (also known as Papa and Nana 🙂 ), and we also enjoyed fall weather and activities! The fall weather has definitely put us in the mood for scarves, sweaters, pumpkins, festivals, chili and soups, apple and pumpkin desserts, and… you get the idea!!

Friday afternoon when we arrived in Dexter (the name of my hometown) I took the kids to the park to burn off some energy! They had a blast and love playing at that park. I think the smile on Emma’s face says it all!

 

Saturday the town of Dexter was having a fall festival downtown main street. It was pretty cold outside so we should have worn gloves and scarves, but I didn’t exactly come prepared…, so we wore jackets. We still had a blast, even though by the end Emma was cold! There was all kinds of crafts and goodies, and activities for the kids. The kids rode on a little train and played in the bouncy houses. It was Emma’s first train ride by herself. I couldn’t tell by her face if she was happy or about to cry! 🙂 They both loved the bouncy houses though!

 

After the festival we went back to my parents house and had a bonfire. We cooked hot dogs over the open flames. I don’t know why, but hot dogs taste so much better this way!! Maybe it’s the overall experience that adds to the taste. 🙂 David and Papa enjoyed sitting out by the fire and eating their lunch. Us girls went back inside to eat after roasting our hot dogs. Emma was still recovering from being cold at the festival. 🙂

 

Later that evening the kids carved a couple of pumpkins that Nana had bought for them. Or I should say, Dad and I carved pumpkins for the kids! 🙂 David and Emma then painted their pumpkins. Green was the popular color. The pumpkins they picked out were baby pumpkins, so cute!!! They are both really proud of their pumpkins!

 

This is what the pumpkins look like after dark! 🙂

 

As usual when going to my parents house, we ate and ate and ate and ate…. No complaints here, except for I probably gained another ten pounds! My mom wanted to make this apple tart dessert, and so we peeled and cut apples, rolled out pastry, and made caramel sauce. It was so delicious!

 

Because Emma’s birthday is at the end of this month, (WHAT? Already? Yikes! My baby is turning two in a couple weeks!) Nana and Papa wanted to celebrate her birthday early with some cake and a few presents Sunday afternoon. Emma had a candle on her cake, and she was looking at it like please remove this thing from my dessert! I tried to show her how to blow it out, and she got some good practice in for later this month. 🙂 (We are just having a family birthday for her at home this year, but I will fill you in on that later.)

We drove back home Sunday night, and today we have enjoyed the day here at home with Andrew! I worked on some routine cleaning projects, made out a menu/grocery list, and we went shopping. At the grocery store they had one of those signs that states for expectant/new mothers. I have never taken advantage of this before, mostly because I don’t really feel that I need it. Most stores don’t have them anyway. Today I told Andrew to park in that spot! 🙂 I wanted to know what it felt like to park in front of that sign. I have to say, it was pretty cool! 😉 It was one of those one time experience kind of things. It’s the little things in life. 🙂

Here is our menu for this week.

Monday: Today I fixed pan fried pork chops, black eye peas and carrots for dinner. 

Tuesday: Lunch, Pasta alfredo (leftover) Dinner, Steak, butternut squash, and asparagus.

Wednesday: Lunch, Tacos. Dinner, at church. 

Thursday: Out…Date day!

Friday: Lunch, Turkey Chili. Dinner: Pollo alla plancha (chicken, black beans and rice)

Saturday: Lunch, Polish Sausage and Beans. Dinner: Lasagna. 

Sunday: Lunch, Chicken Enchilada Soup. Dinner: Sandwiches and soup. 

Last week I made Shrimp Pasta alfredo! I love anything pasta alfredo! I also made caesar salad, another favorite! The best thing about pasta alfredo is it is so easy to make! Seriously, all you need is butter, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, and fettuccine noodles! Here is the recipe! I took the liberty of adding some shrimp to my pasta sauce and letting it cook that way. I also made my own caesar salad dressing. Here is the recipe! I really like this dressing recipe. It does not use eggs, so you don’t have to worry about it going bad or anything like that.

Tonight I made black eye peas to go along with our pork chops. Since I posted some side dish recipes in my last blog, I thought I would keep it up and post my black eye pea recipe. I cheat and use canned black eye peas. It takes less time that way. I start by chopping up a couple slices of bacon and about half an onion. Cook them both in a skillet until the bacon is pretty crispy. Drain and add the can of black eye peas to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cook until peas are heated through.

 

Love,

PK