Day 183 | My Little Hedgehogs

The moment you've all been waiting for: the big Halloween reveal. Chase and Robbe were the cutest hedgehogs around (not that there was much competition).

We made the best trick-or-treating decision possible: head to our old (old, old) neighborhood, and Chase's namesake, for the Chevy Chase Halloween Spooktacular. Chris and I enjoyed witnessing this spectacle when we first moved to the District, without babies. Now, eight years later, here we are bringing our own little trick-or-treaters back for the event. 

Chase really got into the spirit this year with his, "Trick-or-treat!", and "Happy Halloween!", and "Thank you!". And Robbe got the best treat an almost-eight-month-old could ask for: a polka dot balloon.

We wrapped up the evening by stopping at a couple neighbors' houses before heading home to admire the loot. A super-enjoyable time was had by all.

Day 182 | A Healthy Halloween: Part 2

Delicious pumpkin agave muffins? Yes, please!

I've been making these muffins since I first started looking for sugar-free recipes. They are AMAZING. Not exaggerating and I promise you won't miss the sugar. I'm not going to repost the whole recipe since I actually follow the original recipe pretty closely: just leave out the salt. I've also substituted applesauce for the oil in the past and ended up with good results. One tip? Fill them pretty full because they don't rise much. 

Here's the recipe.

Today, the lucky recipients were Chase's school friends for their Halloween party. And by "party," I mean they celebrated by having this special snack and using festive napkins. No costumes allowed (apparently some kids get overwhelmed by them?) so no big reveal yet. Stay tuned tomorrow. When I asked if Chase was going to tell his friends that I made the muffins, he said "no." Embarrassed by me already? That can't be true!

Side note: Grandma Mary comes today! We're picking her up post-nap and, as you can imagine, we're all a *little* excited. Chase has asked about her whereabouts at least 100 times in the last three days. 

Day 181 | A Healthy Halloween

Another fun Wednesday at Whole Foods. Today we made several delicious (and healthy!) Halloween snacks: a clemintine pumpkin, a banana ghost, a pretzel/banana spider, and an apple mouth with marshmallow teeth (not pictured because the photo of Robbe was too cute to leave off).

These classes are taking a hiatus for the holidays and we'll sorely miss our fun (and free!) Wednesday activity.  Maybe I'll start coming up with my own toddler crafts now. A girl can dream. 

Day 180 | Feeling Nostalgic

It's unbelievable how a smell can throw you back to another time and place in an instant, isn't it? Last week when we were at the Cape, the vacation house we stayed in sent me right back to my grandparents' house in Wisconsin. 

The smell hit me first. Somehow the upstairs and downstairs smelled exactly as my grandparents' house did. I can't even begin to explain what the smell is but I knew it after not visiting their house in almost four years. The more I looked around, the smell was just the beginning. The shuddered closet doors were in both the upstairs bedrooms. Just like at Grandma and Grandpa's. The glass shower doors were the same. I know these doors are probably very common, but I think I've only ever used two that look like this. 

I left my grandparents' house after saying goodbye to Grandma in January 2011. It didn't feel real that I would never walk into their house again and I don't think I felt all the emotions I should have when I walked out the door for the last time. Staying in the vacation home for the week was almost more emotional than that last day in a way. It brought back a flood of memories that I haven't thought about in quite some time. Although some of these memories were sad, I was overjoyed to have the unexpected reminder of my grandparents.

Day 179 | Unlikely Lunch Outing

After rescheduling the boys' flu shots (they ran out?), the only open appointments were over lunch. So, I packed up lunch and headed to the doctor's office today. I've got the best lunch dates around.

As if that weren't enough, the boys handled their shots like champs. No crying. Let me say that again...no crying. Can you believe that? Such brave little guys. 

Day 178 | Pumpkins!

 It was the perfect fall day for heading to the pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, I didn't have the needed motivation to make that trek happen. Sorry, kiddos. Instead, we had a low key morning and then headed to a cute little pumpkin sale at a local church. We pulled in at 11:10am to find out that it didn't open until noon. Urgh.

Next option? Grocery store pumpkins. Not exactly what we had in mind for Robbe's first pumpkin adventure, but after several hours, I've come to terms with it.

The important thing is that we have carved pumpkins on our front porch. See? We're festive. One thing we learned, though: a one-to-one ratio of adult to baby is not ideal when trying to carve two pumpkins. We ended up going pretty simplistic with this year's designs. I did my annual cat carving (did you know that about me?) and Chris pulled through with a much more creative train to match Chase's current obsession.

Day 177 | Breakfast Bonanza

Talk about a great house guest: Uncle Matt made us breakfast. Pancakes, sausage, berries, coffee, and festive napkins. What a delicious morning.

Thanks for a great visit, Matt. Yay for house guests!