on your marks...get set.. go!

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, 10k, 5k, and 1k

Turkey Day started early for my family.  My big sister flew in from out of town and decided that it would be fun if everyone in the family ran a race. So... me, my twin, and big sister signed up for the 5k, my husband signed up for the 10k, and my dad and his little family (and our kids) signed up for the 1k. Everyone was signed up and surprisingly worked out perfectly.

This is the sunrise we saw on the way up to the morning race.

Most of the kids ready and waiting for the 1k to start.  The 5 and 10k runners went first, and the 1k started after most of the other runners got back, so we were able to run with our kids too in the 1k. :)  They loved it. So glad it was a kinda warm morning and no snow/rain/ice in sight. Oh and they really did have a guy dressed in a full turkey costume that started the races. hilarious.

Since I had the camera for our run, I took pictures. This is my big sister stopping to tie her shoe, and my twin dancing around in her zumba pants chanting (I should have gone (fill in blank) before we started this race). hehehehe. Ahh...too bad the Arctic Circle wasn't open when we ran by.

my crazy sisters.

We were definitely haven't fun on the run, just something we could do together, wasn't keeping track of time at all.

yay!! everyone gets a medal. (the colors don't mean a thing)

Here come our 10k runner!! He is fast. just saying.

My jog is his walk, his run is me on a bicycle.

hehehe love ya handsome.

Wish I had taken a picture of all the kids running in the 1k.  We were all split up with 9 kids and 7 adults...all of us on the 1k. Each adult was in charge of a kid in the 1k.  They all did great and they LOVED getting a medal. My girls have them hanging up in their room.

End result? I actually enjoyed this 5k. Maybe it was the company? or the fact that I'm in a lot better shape than I was for my last 5k. Either way, I would run (sorry..not run, more like job/walk) a 5k again with my sisters. Fun way to start your turkey day! and burn some calories before the turkey feast.

Mini Apple and Pumpkin Pies

This will mostly be a picture post.  My sister and I attempted mini pies and they turned out great! These pictures are for my sour cream apple pie (should have recipe posted somewhere on my blog) and the basic pumpkin pie (found on the libby's real pumpkin cans).

Above is how I made the crusts!

 I went and got the pre-made roll out dough at the store,

 made big circles from a circle cookie cutter,

 and then we formed them into the muffin tins

(NO cooking spray  needed, they come right out).

Here are my sour cream apple pies just out of the oven.

 I had just enough filling for the full pan.

Sooo good. still my favorite pie.

My finished sour cream apple pie!

Look how cute! did I mention really good?

Now for the pumpkin pie.

They are ready to go in to the oven.  No pre-baking crust.

This one I had left overs for 1/2 of another muffin pan.

The pumpkin turned out great too.. ask my sister,

 she couldn't say enough about them.

(if you can't tell I'm playing catch up on all posts from turkey weekend)

Candy Turkeys

Happy 11-11-11 !!  Had to start with that. Lucky Day.

My sister and I found this CUTE candy turkey idea for the turkey day table on pinterest.com, which took us to ourbestbites.com.  (links are there if you want to see the original.)

Ams and I tried once...and these pictures are our 2nd attempt. 

 Here is a picture of most of the candy you would need if you want to try and make them yourself!  Don't forget the icing! Chocolate and White Icing

Use Double Stuff Oreos, sooo much easier (realized that on 2nd attempt). Then add a little chocolate icing and put in the candy corn candies. We then used the chocolate icing to stick the oreo cookies together and put them up against a box to hold them until the icing became stiff.

 After, we slivered the reeses so that it had a flat end, used a little icing to stick it to the oreo, and then added the malt ball for the turkey head on the reeses pb cup.

 Now for the fun part.  We used the white end of the candy corns for the noses.  Then white icing for the eyes with a colorful sprinkle confetti for the center! My bronlaw picked up the white icing with the funfetti sprinkles so it was perfect!

Sad that the last part was the hardest part for me. making little orange feet for the turkeys. I could not keep my hands still. They are still cute, but wish they were more straight. Then used a red gel icing for the gobbler. 

Cute favors huh? (sorry about the pasta background! its what I used to stabalize the oreos)  On ourbestbites.com she used them for name tags.  Smart. How do people come up with ideas like these!

Halloween Overview

The Halloween Season is over! time to hide the candy.

But here is an overview of what happened with my little family.

My daughter had her class Halloween Party.  I've been helping her class once a week and these kids are adorable. So much fun to help them with the party and see them all dressed up.

Pumpkin Carving!! These are the pumpkins this year. My oldest wanted a BOO pumpkins..so we made it a totem pole, my youngest decided on a ghost.  The C is one of my green pumpkins that we covered in glitter. Oh and all these pumpkins were grown in my backyard!

Our trick or treaters! My...I think he went with Assassin, cute Cheerleader, and a happy Dalmatian puppy dog ready to go door to door collecting candy.

See that awesome hooded cloak he's wearing?? yeah, I made it myself. His story?? that he told me months ago to make him one, and I waited until the week before he needed it to start. Which is completely true.  Amazing what deadlines will do for motivation. :)  Didn't the cloak turn out great? (he picked out all the material..just sayin).

While the girls were out trick or treating, most of the neighbors on the street gathered around a fire pit and made a "candy line" for the trick or treaters.  I thought it was great, we were able to chat, eat chili and bread sticks, and all the trick or treaters had to do was go down the line to get a streets worth of candy! Yeah..we need to do this every year. :)

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Book Review: Timeless

Timeless by Alexandra Monir
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maybe 2.5-3 stars. This book is definitely for a young adult audience.

This book was highly recommended, but I just didn't love the story. The story is definitely sweet, and my favorite part was the ending (read to find out). There will be another book in the series, and I'll want to read it when it comes out. Here's one review I found on bn.com

"Michele lives with her single mother, happy in their relationship, secure in her school and her best friends, Amanda and Kristen. But circumstances change and she is sent to live with her grandparents in New York. Michele knew that her mother had been totally estranged from her rich "blue blood" parents since she married and moved to California. Michele has never known her father. Her grandparents seem cold and uncaring. She has the room her mother grew up in, her meals are served in her room, and she rarely even sees her grandparents. While unpacking a box sent by her mother's lawyer, she finds a golden key that looks very old and was owned by her father. It twitches as if it is alive. Michele time traveled back one hundred years and that's just where it starts..."

Michele goes back and forth in time, learning more about her blue blood family, and meets the love of her life...but time keeps them apart. Romance, history, time travel. sounds interesting to you? you may enjoy this book.

Book Review: The Throne of Fire, by Rick Riordan

The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you read the first book? the Red Pyramid? Riordan has a very entertaining writing style, and I loved reading this book. This is the 2nd book in the series, where Carter and Sadie Kane are the storytellers and main characters in the book. The author is very clever in how he meshes modern life with ancient Egypt and it's history.
looking forward to the next installment in the series.

an excerpt from the inside cover: " Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister, Sadie, have been in trouble. As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command but they devious gods haven't given then time to master their skills at the Brooklyn House, a training ground for young magicians. And now their most threatening enemy yet - the Chaos snake, Apophis - is rising. If they don't prevent him from breaking free in a few days' time, the world will end. In other words, it's a typical week for the Kane family...."

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    I know I'm on a calorie specific meal plan, but I couldn't help but try this recipe, especially when I have an excuse to make the cookies.  My brother n law loves cookies and was flying into town.  Just so you know, I only had half of one cookie, yup only half.  But these cookies are good. Really tasty cake-like cookies.   Originally, I found the recipe on pinterest.com, which took me to a recipe on allrecipes.com.  These were actually really easy and fast to make. If you love pumpkin cookies, you have to try these cookies!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg.   In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, and chocolate chips.
3. Drop by the spoonful on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Party at Grandma's House

Halloween Party at Grandma's!

 

    Another fun excuse to wear costumes! My kids and my sisters kids met at Grandma's house to have party.  My mom always goes above and beyond for little parties for the kids.  They had their own kid table, favorite food (mac and cheese), cupcakes, rice krispie treats, treat bag, balloons, and games.

     The picture above is from one of the fun games my mom planned for the kids.  She hung doughnuts from a chandelier, the kids had to put their hands behind their back and try to bite them off. Soo much fun to watch.  The kids were laughing, doughnuts flying on strings, and eventually with a little help they were able to get a few bites.  Another game was playing with water filled balloons in the backyard.  My youngest was the first to get a popped balloon. 

    The other highlight to the evening?? Three out of five of the kids were stung by bees. Luckily it was at the end of the evening. The kids were running around the backyard, and come to find out there were bees burrowed in one of the old wooden steps the kids were jumping on.  Unfortunately the bees did not like them on their home and stung some of them.  My oldest got her first ever bee sting, my sisters boy got one sting (not a tear), and her baby was stung three times! Good thing grandma nurse was just inside.   

Pumpkin Festival

   My girls needed something to do over the weekend, and our little town was throwing a pumpkin festival. Guess they've been doing it for quite a while...who knew! Just an excuse to get dressed in their costumes and get some free candy.  Soo we decided to check it out.

   My favorite part of the night? the fire department. They were sitting on the top of the truck throwing candy at the kids. So much fun.  For the rest of the festival they had different games for the kids from pumpkin toss, find candy in the hay, 2 inflatable slides..and a few others.  This festival was fun...up until almost everyone in town showed up, then the lines for the games were soo long.  When the crowd was too much, we ended up going to the park to play.

   Before the festival started, people were allowed to bring in their carved pumpkins for  a contest.  This one was my favorite. A pumpkin hamburger.. ok, so not a lot of carving skill, but the idea was awesome.  Love pumpkin carvings, and a great idea for those that want to show their work.

 

   Here are my girls on one of their favorite rides.  Someone in town has a "barrel train" for all activities.  They pull these barrels with a 4-wheeler all around the field.  Kids love it.  The festival was definitely fun to check out and my girls love it anytime they get an excuse to wear their costumes.

Book Review: Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

quick overview: Rachel has always been a good girl--until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend Darcy throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiancé Dex. Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for Dex. She prays for fate to intervene, but when she makes a choice she discovers that the lines between right and wrong are blurry, endings aren't always neat, and you have to risk all to win true happiness.
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I had a love hate relationship with this book. Not sure how to describle it, I wanted to know what was going to happen, but it felt...off. Still liked the book, and will probably checkout the movie that came out earlier this year that was based off the book.