Twick-Or-Tweet.

Mateo went "twick-or-tweating" tonight. He couldn't wait to leave, but at the first house his nerves got the best of him. After three houses we came back home because that's where the "big" candy is. Why walk around the block for something you've already got at home? Once we got home he wanted his "twick-or-tweats," which we let him have - all 6 of them. He opened a few, ate a few bites and put them away. I think he's more of a candy taster than a devourer.

Here we are as a glamorous rock star family. Please, no autographs.

When it was time to go to bed he was supposed to take one treat with him. As you see here he insisted on taking ALL of them. (Daddy managed to offload the excess on the stairs on the way up.)
We want to give a BIG thank you to Mary and Dick who brought us this wonderful Halloween "treasure chest," as Mateo calls it. He just loves it, and obviously he loves the candy corn sucker, too.

We also want to give a special thanks to Mima and Papa (my parents) for the great Halloween card and bat magnet. Sorry, no photo for that one, but it is really cute. Just trust me on this.

I *think* this will be my last post about Halloween. So on that note, peace, I'm out!

Bits and pieces.

In keeping with the Halloween themed posts, I thought I'd post some shots of our decor.

Here's the inside.

This guy is my new favorite. I think he looks very happy.

And here's the outside (backyard).

We actually had more decorations than that, but that's all I managed to photograph. You already saw our pumpkins. In the front yard we also had some purple lights lighting the walkway and some bone lights around the door. You might wonder why I'm bothering to tell you this. Well, it's because I never remember from year to year what we do, so this is my way of documenting it. Alas, this year we did not resurrect the huge yard spider. It was asked about, though, so we'll see if we can make it happen again next year. That thing is huge and requires a lot of work.

Halloween Shindig 2009.

WHAT a party! We really enjoyed seeing our guests (all 37 of them) in costume. We even had some celebrities in our midst!

And some soldiers. At ease, guys. That little one at the bottom looks especially wily.

An emo/new wave band.
Joe Dirt.

Peace, Love, and Happiness (though Happiness had changed into his pjs).
And um, er... this.

As well as a wide variety of others.

Some of the items our buffet menu included Werewolf Meat with Caterpillar Sauce (beef fajitas with chimichurri), Mummy Toes (pigs-in-the-blanket), Fairy Brains (cut fruit), Witches Hats (cookies), and Vulture Blood (punch).

The Halloween Candy Hunt was lots of fun. Of the handful of lottery tickets hidden in the candy bags, sadly I think we only had a $1 winner.

Mmm... someone found a Witches' Hat cookie to eat and ate the chocolate part first.

Thanks to all our guests for coming!!

Jack o'lantern fun.

SOME of us spent our time carving pumpkins.

While OTHERS just asked for candy.

So what's a good parent to do? Well, first you realize what a mistake it is to have bags and bags of candy just sitting out. Then you make your child do silly things in order to earn it.

You also take photos of said child in the midst of a sugar rush saying "Mama, look at me! Look at me!"

Here's our family of pumpkin heads.
Mine has earrings.

Oh, and here's the scarecrow I've been promising.

We will miss our Pecos Bill.

Rest in peace, good friend.

Rock star!

Mateo's school had their Halloween costume parade today. The kids were just dern adorable. While Mateo didn't exactly sing along much, he strummed his guitar - which we were quite impressed with. He maintained his coolness through the whole event. By the way, the sunglasses (or "goggles," as he calls them) were his idea.

Here he is with his, like, totally rad teacher Ms. Mamie.

Making a punk rock face. I wonder if he knows what anarchy means?

It takes a REAL rocker to sport a mohawk AND Mickey Mouse shades.

Learning to deal.

I'm learning to deal with my new hair. Attempting to fade the color, I've shampooed my hair a gazillion times. Dare I even say that I am LIKING it now?

Connor's birthday party.

I'll leave writing the big recap to Tina, but here are a few of my favorite shots from the party.

Below are links for the albums per family. We were picture taking fools!

Tina - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=bfd084eb610f1b1a6276141d224b0f78&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGG6

Jodi - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=92009d74305a3f7a6cdd16a80fdf8c46&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGHc

Mel - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=193ee6f7a24c58bcd33ce936de451066&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGEQ

Brenda - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=5a38f4a4161b8e32cf4ab00f16ca9e1e&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGEj

Peggy - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=b0fd519e7f01934a6d9889752d9a603c&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGHv

Honey - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=aa10759cdd4217fbc7e45aad1e0cdff4&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGFU

Gen - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=ae104ef4980101d22f762628e38c6d8e&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGF2

Jessica - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=b5490f02e05c5aacc9f3edf1ebadc1fb&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGFn

Ary - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=847a874ad29519e826cd1d30d33b21f1&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGEy

Nion - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=6a0d678affdabd002f762628e38c6d8e&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGGY

Leah - http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=1fa8757cda885a936d9889752d9a603c&sid=8AbuWrNw0ZtGGr

Connor turns one!

Connor turned one last week. As a tribute to my best friend Tina's first year of mommyhood, I wanted to take a brief walk down memory lane.

Ahhh... pregnancy.
And here's our little boy. I'll call him my nephew even though he's not. But he kind of is really. Lots of you may not know this, but Rafi and I saw him in the nursery window before seeing Tina and Greg. I told Rafi right then that that HAS to be Connor. I was right! We got to watch him get all his shots and ointments. Boy was he mad!
And here he is being super cool with his best friend Mateo.

You know it's the new millenium when you take photos of your kid's first pair of Crocs.

And here he is as an official one year old!

I also want to take a minute to remember Connor's twin sister Kaitlyn. She became an angel a year ago, and we all miss her. I just know she's wearing little one year old pigtails up there.

Nature in a parking lot.

We visited the pumpkin patch during their annual festival at Mateo's school today. We each got our own pumpkin. Carving will commence on Wednesday. (Mental note: Still need to finish that scarecrow I promised you guys, too.)

It's always cool to run into friends unexpectedly.

Besides lots of pumpkins to run through, sit on, and roll around, they had a variety of animals to pet - goats, kittens, rabbits, ducks, and chicks.

Sometimes ducks need herding.

And sometimes a chick needs a hug. (That's what the leaning of the head is. I fear this might have been learned from our dogs.)

Did I mention the free bull ride?

Beauty School Dropout.

Let's just say today was not my day for beauty. My day today was just too bad not to share, and when I say bad, I don't mean I was in a bad mood. In fact, I managed to stay chipper all day long. Want to see what I mean? I promise I didn't edit this photo in any way so you can view the real deal; didn't even crop it.

Behold: Goth Girl.

Yeah. The box said "dark ash brown." I got that and then some. My hair went from a light brown to BLACK. It does have some brown spots in there, but quite honestly it's because I stink at putting hair color on evenly. Strike one. So why did I do this, you may ask. It's all in the name of Halloween. Yeah, that's right, Halloween.

Okay, really I just wanted something different. My attempt to extend my last pedicure by putting some more color over it ended up botching the whole thing. Strike two.

The third strike was my home manicure. Listen, it's been YEARS since I painted my fingernails (okay, except for that one time last week), so I'm really out of practice. However, a home manicure I can usually handle. To avoid blabbering on too long (and really boring the menfolk around here), let's just say my bright idea involving Q-Tips and Vaseline didn't go well. Ended up having to do it all twice. Cotton fuzzies in your nail polish is not a good look.

FYI, this is what a once perfectly tidy bathroom looks like after a beauty emergency.

Oh, and do you wanna know the real kick in the pants? Mateo puked on me. Don't worry, he's not sick. He just threw a big tantrum and cried himself into puking. He felt just fine afterward. Meanwhile, I looked like a slimed Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

So say a prayer for me tonight if you're the prayin' type. I have a hair cut tomorrow. ;-)

Frequent houseguest.

Hello, headache.

Nice for you to visit again. I love it when you wake me up during the night every hour on the hour. I love how my brow lines get deeper and deeper with each of your visits. Oh! And how fabulous you make me look walking around with my fingers pinching my nose, pushing on my cheekbones and temples! The clenching of my jaws add to the effect. Sometimes a pair of sunglasses are thrown in. That's when I feel your aura the most.

In summary, I wanted to say how much I missed you, as it's only been two days since you visited last. You must really miss me a lot to visit that often. Forgive me for not having made the guest room for you (but then again you've already invited yourself into MY bed).

Love, your host Jodi

Slow Cooker Lasagna.

Sorry, no photo this time - too lazy to get out the camera. Yes, I really do take my own photos on here, even my title banners. Ah, but I digress... this is still a decent recipe and merits posting. It serves 8-10, so it'd be great for a party or lots of leftovers. Notice I put some notes at the end.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (12 ounce) package lasagna noodles
12 ounces cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese


1. In a large skillet over medium heat cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic until brown. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, and oregano and stir until well incorporated. Cook until heated through.
2. In a large bowl mix together the cottage cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese.
3. Spoon a layer of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a double layer of the uncooked lasagna noodles. Break to fit noodles into slow cooker. Top noodles with a portion of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering of sauce, noodles, and cheese until all the ingredients are used.
4. Cover, and cook on LOW setting for 4 to 6 hours.


*Notes: I recommend adding a little water even though it doesn't say to do so. I felt it helped the pasta from drying out too much. I also cooked it on HIGH for 4 hours, not LOW. Making this recipe as is with hamburger and cottage cheese was just fine, but I would imagine using an Italian sausage of some sort and ricotta cheese might make it a bit more luxurious. Luxurious? Yes, I think it's possible for lasagna to be luxurious. Also, go light on the salt. It doesn't need the full amount.

Sweet Berry Farm.

Thirty minutes. That's how long it took to drive the last mile to Sweet Berry Farm this afternoon. That doesn't include the hour before that it took to get to that point. Was it worth it? Well, let's just say it was so we all feel better, shall we?

Happy times. Here the boys are walking in the parking lot to the farm. Such promise the day held at this moment, for we had already put the bad traffic behind us.

Oh how quickly it turned sour. So sour that Mateo lashed out at the paparazzo we call "Daddy." After waiting in a long line for the hay ride shuttle and being on the losing end of the full load capacity cut, his fit turned into leg grabbing, threatening to run away, and then the all out snot bawl. Poor baby.

Just look at the crowd. And that's only one side of the farm. There were WAY more people than that.
The hay ride, though, was nice. It was just the break we needed. Technically since we rode the shuttle over to the hay ride and back we ended up having three hay rides. With each ride Mateo's mood improved. I think the big tractor tires helped. On the tour they had neat little scarecrow vignettes on display. Can you see the mid-air basketball player? His legs kind of blend in with the background.

The corn maze was really fun. Mateo enjoyed playing the leader and telling us where to go... that is until I told him he was officially in charge. Right on cue he turned to us at the upcoming intersection, shrugged his shoulders and said, "where to go now?" That kid has great accidental comedic timing.

I neglected to mention we also had pumpkin and berry ice creams which were delicious. And we built a scarecrow. He's sitting on our patio waiting for his face to be drawn on. By that point in the day we were just ready to go, so no photos (yet) of that. Besides, our viewers deserve to see only the finished product, right? Later this week, my friends. Try to be patient.

You know, sometimes you just have to put on your smiles and force your way through something that doesn't turn out as you had imagined. And sometimes that alone makes everything turn out alright. At the end of the day a lollipop was what the doctor ordered. (Shhh... we won't tell that he ATE the gum inside. Oops! Oh, yeah, and we'll not mention the no pants thing either.) Finally Mommy and Daddy were finally able to relax and be their goofy selves again.

Onion Rice.

Can rice get better than this? I'm not so sure. When you taste this rice you'll swear it has butter in it, but there's no butter to be found! I'll go out on a limb and say that this rice has a comfort level just a notch below mac & cheese. It's THAT good, assuming you like onions. It melts in your mouth. I initially made it to be a side dish, but it was so satisfying it became the main course.

Onion Rice

Light drizzle of olive oil
1 onion chopped or processed
1 cup long-grain white rice
3 hearty pinches of ground black pepper
1 pinch of kosher salt
1 clove of garlic minced OR a few shakes of garlic powder
2 cups chicken broth OR 2 cups water with 2 chicken boullion cubes

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until almost tender. Stir in rice, and continue cooking until coated with oil. When onion is tender and rice begins to brown lightly, season with salt, pepper and garlic, and pour in the broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

'F' is for Firetruck.

'F' is for Firetruck.

Fire trucks are cool. No, really cool. They have really tall ladders...
...and gauges and switches and hoses.

They make cool noises and have really big tires.

The inside looks like the cockpit of a rocket ship.
Fire fighters are cool, too. They know how to work everything. And they get to use big heavy cool machines like the jaws of life.
Even cooler is that sometimes they give you cookies, stickers, and a balloon.

P.S. According to Mateo there's an animal sleeping in this shed. Shhhh... we must be very quiet.

Rocket Ship Shoes

This Saturday Mateo received a haircut, the trundle mattress so he can move into the big boy bed (when he's ready), and new shoes. He's most excited about the new shoes. We asked him if they make him run faster. He said, "Yes, my wocket ship shoes."
In actuality these pricey little boogers will supposedly help him with his toe walking issue. They are heavier and stiffer, helping to keep his heels lower. We can see the difference when he wears them. Time will tell if they'll help us avoid yet another physical therapist.

But he doesn't know all that. All he knows is that they are his rocket ship shoes, allowing him to run at the speed of sound.

Ma-TAY-toe.

We love how he mixes his name with "tomato." And for the record, he wouldn't eat it later.

Bird calls.

Sometimes while I work in the kitchen I'll leave the back door open for Mateo to freely play in or outside. Today I caught him doing bird calls. "Hawk! Hawk!", "Kweee! Kweee!", and my favorite "Bird! Bird!". Thankfully he never noticed me with the camera. :)

Garbage gut.

Marley has been diagnosed with colitis due to "dietary indiscretion." In other words, she's a garbage gut. I've been saying for years I didn't know how she hadn't had a bowel obstruction by now. But she'll be just fine. She got a shot to prevent vomiting and some anti-inflammatories so her guts will start feeling better. She also can't eat until tomorrow morning and even then has to eat a prescribed ultra-bland canned food that will help rebuild her colon colonies. (I really like how those words look together - "colon colonies." They're a matching set.)

Poor Marley girl... or "Marney," as Mateo calls her. As for now, she rests. At least she tries to. She was getting irritated with my picture taking.

She kept moving from place to place to get away.
She eventually turned her back on me.
Pixel, on the other hand, is always a willing subject.