Taco soup on a chilly evening

We are finally in our first straight week of cold weather. Starting tonight the nights are in the 30's to low 40's. My kind of weather. I even had to go buy Macie a coat tonight because she was the only one who didn't have a good jacket for this year.

I've been in a comfort food mood lately. Yesterday I made a delicious beef stew that simmered all day and then today I made taco soup following the recipe from The Larson Lingo. Oh my it was perfection. Even Makayla (who is so picky) ate two bowls. The recipe is definitely a keeper for us and it warmed us up nicely.

4,8,12,16.....

....We can't wait for Halloween!! The kids have this cheer from school stuck in my head.

I didn't do any major decorating for halloween this year. Just a few things to keep us excited about the holiday.

The pumpkin that is lit up is the one that the boy insists stays on his nightstand. He loves it.

*This is my 3rd post for today. I finally caught up from the weekend happenings so scroll back to read them all. :-)

It's windows open...

and jackets in the morning weather. LOVE it!!

On the first day of Fall....

Pumpkin chip muffins just seemed like the right thing to make.

Our Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving my mother-in-law and niece came down and stayed Wednesday night through Thursday. We had friends in and out of the house those days as well and it ended up being a wonderful holiday.

This is one of my favorite pictures. My 11 year old niece and my 3 kiddos all together. Melts my heart.
The first pumpkin pie I ever made and it turned out divine.

Wii tournaments with all 4 kids.

I also made a chocolate cherry cheesecake and my mother-in-law made a pecan pie and pecan tartlets. The kids helped us decorate the table and it was so cute to see how much pride they took in doing their part for our celebration.

The kids are so excited to get our Christmas tree up this weekend. I feel very blessed to have such special people in our lives to share our holidays with.

Home projects ( Red edition)

I have been itching to do a couple of small house projects. I finally couldn't take it anymore and so I went and bought four cans of red spray paint. I had several ideas in mind and just ran with them.

I moved one of our nightstands out of our room and put a bookshelf on my hubs side. I decided that the nightstand on my side could use a sprucing up so I sanded it down and took a leap of faith with the spray paint. I LOVE how it came out. LOVE IT!!Last year one of our dining room chairs broke and my mom and aunt turned it into a table for our porch. It was painted white but wear has really been showing on the white so I decided to turn it red too. It really makes the front porch pop!This one really isn't a project but I wanted to share it anyway. Today hubs ran a few errands and came home with a Spiderman costume for the boys' build-a-bear. He absolutely loved it. I have quite a few more projects in mind for the next month or so. We have been busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. This year we are doing it differently and having it at our house. My mother-in-law and other family members are coming and I am sure it is going to be great. I have been running around making sure we have everything that is needed.

I'm especially excited to get our tree up this coming weekend. Hope you all are enjoying the season.

Better late than never

I am finally getting around to posting our Halloween photos. We had a great evening and the kids gave us plenty of laughs. Makayla was a witch, Macie an angel and the boy was a knight. My aunt made the boys' costume herself. It looked so real. LOVE this pic of the 3 of them. The girls were pretending that they ate a poison apple and then they would hit the ground pretending to be dead or asleep. They did this for a good ten minutes and my mom even caught it on video. Even Macie's baby got to dress up.

Happy Halloween!!! This is one of my favorite holidays and I am so excited for tonight. We have a witch, an angel and a knight this year. Can't wait to get some amazing photos of my happy Halloween clan.

Hope all of you have an amazing spooky night with family and friends!!

Fall Glow

Let me start off by saying that there is nothing Fall like about our weather. It is still in the 90's during the day. The 90's people! In the middle of October! Despite these horrible temps I am still trying to bring a Fall feeling into our home. I put new batteries in our jack-o-lanterns and light the fall candles often. Tonight the house had such a pretty and soft glow to it. Almost makes me forget about the 90 degree temps outside.

I heart Fall

It is a beautiful rainy day today. Unfortunately a stomach virus is plaguing our home but I am still enjoying the fact that it is fall. Oh how I love this time of year.

Target trip

Today I promised the kids that if they took a nap we would go to Target to pick out a few new Halloween decorations. They actually took a really long nap so when they woke up we headed on out. The boy was throwing a fit the whole time for some reason so he would not let me get a pic of him holding up any decorations but the girls sure were excited.

Beginnings of Fall

It is finally beginning to feel like Fall. The days are still hot but mornings and nights feel wonderful. I will be putting out our decor soon. I cannot wait until I spend my days baking muffins with dinner in the crock pot and my nights curled up under quilts reading a huge stack of books.

I took a pic of my Stargazers since they started opening up. They are making the entire kitchen smell great.