Halloween + Bakin' Friends {a picture-less post...say WHAT?}

Happy {day after} Halloween!  It's hard to believe that Halloween has already come & gone.  Time seems to flying by faster & faster every day.  This year, Halloween seemed extra special to me.  No, it wasn't Dafney's first Halloween, but it was the first Halloween where she actually went out trick-or-treating!  It was so fun to see her sweet {duck} face light up when those sweet treats were handed to her.  

We were lucky enough to celebrate Halloween a couple times this month!  Last weekend, we took Dafney to the local Middle School for some trick-or-treating FUN!  They had games, treats, bouncy houses & even a Haunted House.  The games were a bit tough for a {nearly} 2 year old, but she definitely scored some treats!  And, she even humored us & went through the Haunted House with us.  I was worried I would traumatize her forever, but it was just scary enough for a child & it only took us about a minute to walk through.  Hooray!

Then we celebrated with some of our friends & their adorable kiddos!  All the kids enjoyed themselves as did the adults :)  

Last night, instead of heading out into the dark, cold night, we decided to take Dafney to one of the local Malls to do her trick-or-treating!  She had so much fun and looked so cute ;)  Her favorite part of the day might have been when we gave her a fun-size bag of M&M's to enjoy.  Halloween + sweets = one energetic kid!

Speaking of treats...I participated in STEPH'S Bakin' Friends again this month!  I really enjoy meeting other bloggers {& non-bloggers} as well as being able to spend some quality time in the kitchen! This month our secret ingredient was CANDY CORN.  A perfect ingredient for some Halloween baking!  I received treats from Catherine this month!  She sent some delicious white chocolate-candy corn cookies {amazing} and some candy-corn covered popcorn.  Seriously popcorn is one of my favorite snacks and then to have it smothered in candy corn...whoa, beyond amazing!  The treats were totally amazing, so THANK-YOU Catherine!

If you're interested, stop over at Steph's blog {believe me, you'll be happy you did} for all the baking details!

Happy Friday!

weekly photos

3 Things Thursday

Happy Thursday...it's been a while since I did a "three things Thursday" post.  And, since I'm lacking any imagination today, three things seems like a doable blog post :)

Without further ado...{because I know how excited you are}

1.  We have been living with my parents for FIFTY {5-0} days.  It's been, how shall I put it...challenging, stressful, a loooong 50 days, but we're all adjusting {some better than others, I think}.  Sadly, I think I fall into that "not adjusting well" category.  After college & a {fortunate} break-up with my ex, I was forced to move back in with my parents.  Yep, I was that kid.  And to be honest, I don't really remember it being as difficult as I do now.  Maybe it's because it was just me that moved in...this time, I brought my hubby, daughter AND dog.  When we first moved in I had an overwhelming "homesick" feel; however, once we started to get into our "new" routine, it sort of went away, I guess.  But, not long after, I started to feel really stressed out.  I've been trying to please both my hubby/daughter and my parents.  I'm trying not to wear out our welcome, while keeping things as close to "normal" as possible. Bottom line: it's hard to do.  I feel like my parents {more so my Dad} are starting to get a teeny-tiny-little bit frustrated  with us.  It's frustrating for me because I don't really have time to do much cooking {not to mention, my parents are fairly stuck in their eating ways, where as I like to cook new things often} & I feel bad that my parents are usually cooking for us.  I want to contribute to the chores, but finding time to contribute has been a chore itself.  Though I am completely 100% grateful to my parents for letting us stay with them while our house is being built, I am completely 100% ready to move into OUR own home.  

2.  ...speaking of OUR OWN HOME; it's coming along nicely :) Hubby & I are working together to create a *new* blog dedicated to our house & the journey we've had thus far & everything that happens in the upcoming months!  For now though, I'll just give you a sneak peak of the progress thus far ;)

3.  We are FINALLY having some family pictures taken tomorrow!  My very dear friend is taking some photos for us and I am so excited!  It's fairly sad that Dafney is almost 2 years old & we haven't had any "professional" pictures taken of her or of the 3 of us together as a family.  So, it's about dang time!  I am stressing out a bit as I haven't picked out our outfits yet.  I'm thinking of having some taken with casual outfits & some taken with nice(r) matching outfits.  Here's to hoping I can find something in our closets by 3pm tomorrow :)  Excited to share the photos when we get them back!

On that note, have a fabulous weekend!

Ready or Not, Here IT Comes

It's true, IT is upon us!  What is "IT"?  Well, it is the crisp, cool air, the gorgeous leaves, the shorter days, pumpkin flavor bursting out of any and EVERYTHING...a.k.a. FALL!  My very favorite time of the year...other than knowing that {gulp} winter is just around the corner.  I love pulling out the warm, cozy sweaters, sipping on pumpkin spice lattes & enjoying the Sever's Corn Maze with some good friends!  A while back, some of my friends started the ever-so-loved tradition of going to Sever's & then to someone's house for the infamous pumpkin carving contest.  If you know me and my {non} artistic ability, you can probably imagine why I no longer participate in the pumpkin carving.  Instead I socialize, drink, eat, drink, eat some more, socialize, have another drink and round it out with stuffing my face with even more food :)

This year we picked the most perfect day to hit up Sever's!  It was absolutely gorgeous outside...probably one of the last the state of MN will see until next June {no, really, I'm not even joking}!

Dafney and I arrived a few minutes before everyone, which allowed me to snap a few extra photos to capture her first time participating in this legendary tradition :)

The first thing that caught the kiddos' eye was the tire playground.  There's something about climbing & sand that seems to attract children.  This had both!

After playing in the tire playground, we hit up the corn maze.  This year it was in the shape of Minnesota...awe :)  We spent what felt like DAYS an hour or so in the corn maze & found our way out!  At first Dafney wanted nothing to do with the maze, but once she saw her little buddies B & B, she was all about it.  She thought it was SO funny to run through the corn {such a little stinker}!

After the maze, we hit up the ever-so-popular CORN PIT!  All the kids {big & little} had a blast jumping in, throwing {haha, we're those people} & playing in the corn!  Seriously, how can I get one of these in my backyard?

It didn't take Danfey long to realize how much FUN this big corn pit was!  She loved burying her mama :)  And even jumped off the side into the pit a couple of times!!

After we had our corn-pit fill, we headed off to see the "choo-choo" as Dafney calls it.  She has this new obsession with trains {I sense a train set in her Christmas future}!  I think this might have been her favorite part of the whole day!

My favorite part was being able to do something fun with my little girl!  Love, love, love her ♥

Afterwards, we went to our friend, Tim's house for some grub, drinks & pumpkin carving!  It was the perfect way to round out the weekend!

The pumpkin carving artists...

...and their masterpieces!

Seriously, my friends have some major pumpkin carving talent!!

Here's to another successful {& fun} Sever's trip...I'm already excited for next year ;)

weekly photos {mostly from the Children's Museum}

house project: demo day

The long awaited demo on our house has finally begun!  Last Friday, the hubby received a text message from our Foreman showing us the remains of our house.  To finally see some progress made me beyond happy!

I thought I might be sad when we pulled up to the "house" over the weekend, but I was giddy as a kid in a candy store.  It was actually really neat to see the remains of our house.  It's crazy for me to think that just a week ago, our house was just waiting to be torn down.  And now, it's gone.  

We hope to get to the house every Sunday to snap some pictures of the week's progress.  I can't believe that in a few super, long, exhausting short months we will be in our brand new home!  

This whole process is pretty amazing & I'm excited to document this whole process!  

Until next time...

Bakin' Friends: September

Goodbye September...hello Bakin' Friends reveal day :)

I participated in Bakin' Friends again this month.  Our secret ingredient was zucchini.  Seriously, this stuff has been growing like crazy & this was the perfect opportunity to use some.  

My Bakin Friend, Marcia, sent me some Lemon Zucchini Bread with a Lemon glaze and let me tell you, it was delicious.  So delicious in fact that I took a bite & totally forgot to snap some photos {so sorry}.  I absolutely love zucchini bread, but I've never had LEMON zucchini bread, so this was a real treat!  Thanks, Marcia!!

Interested?

Check out Steph's blog for all the delicious details!

Happy eating, friends!