Pumpkin Carving!

We (finally) carved our pumpkins last night. I bought a carving kit at Crafts Direct on clearance for $2, and that worked pretty slick! Brad soooo enjoys carving pumpkins every year he can hardly contain himself, heehee. The girls had fun getting all the pulp out and separating the seeds. I roasted the seeds in the oven right away, and have been enjoying eating them, yum!

Today we had our daycare party, and it was a lot of fun. not. I spent half an hour getting everyone ready in their Halloween costumes, all the while my youngest two cried. *sigh*. So, for the half hour it took me, they were in their costumes just long enough to get pics taken, and then promptly took them off. I made pumpkin shaped pancakes for breakfast, pumpkin shaped cheese chunks for morning snack, pumpkin shaped pizza for lunch (do you get the theme here??!!) and chocolate cupcakes for snack. I'm still finding chocolate crumbs everywhere. Note to self, if it's nice again next year, EAT CUPCAKES OUTSIDE. Oh well, the kids had fun, and that's all that matters. And I'm drinking wine. HA!

Brad and I are going to a costume party on Saturday night, and I just bought our costumes today. We are going as Adam and Eve!!! Really!! I got the costumes online for really cheap, I should get them tomorrow, I can't wait to see how they look! And yes, I will post pics, don't worry.

Remember now, November 1st starts National Novel Writing Month, so Homespun Kitchen might be a bit sparse. I will try and do some quick updates, but these butterfingers will be excitedly writing my next novel!!

P.S. Fluffy was so very excited to get her pic taken, she felt left out. Aww....

P.P.S. It won't let me upload pics, grrr. I'll try again tomorrow.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL MANIA!!!!!!!!!

Well, the title says it all. For all of you "uncool" people out there, tonight was the opening night of High School Musical 3. And as much as I want to deny it, I was there. With 4 other moms and 9 kids! :0 Yes, it was crazy madness at the theater. The whole theater was filled with giggling, screaming 5 year olds on up to see the new movie. And as much as I digress, it was actually GOOD! (And Troy really is soooo cuuute!!!) The music was awesome, and one of the moms burned the CD for all the girls, how cool! We had a great time, and now all the girls want to play Gabriella, shocker!!

Brad is gone hunting for the weekend, and the girls and I are going to the Stearns History Museum tomorrow for their Halloween Historia, it's from noon-5 and looks like it will be a lot of fun! Rachel won't be with us though, she has a birthday party at a horse ranch. Ugh. Freaks me out, I'm not a horse lover. They are waaaay too large a beast to be sitting on. In the evening I will have three of my daycare kids here overnight, we swap overnights with the parents, (well, the KIDS sleep over, not the parents) and it works out great! Sunday afternoon I am taking the older two to see the play, Peter Pan at the Paramount Theater. I got season tickets this year, and the girls are so excited to go!!! So, another busy, busy weekend!!

Enjoy the pics!

Let's eat cake!

Emma had picked out a cake from one of my Taste of Home cookbooks a while back that I never got around to making. I decided today would be a perfect day for it! I made a regular boxed yellow cake mix, then added raspberry jam (homemade from one of my daycare moms!!) as the filling, and made a cream cheese frosting. The decorating wasn't the greatest, but boy was it GOOD!! And Emma was happy to have her cake made:)

I'm counting my blessings....

Today was an emotional roller coaster for Brad and I. I posted in a previous post that we had taken Alayna in to the doctor on Friday, because I really thought she had ear infections. We went in, and her ears were fine, but she had spots in the back of her throat, they did a strep test, and that was negative. Sunday she spiked a fever all day, no biggie, I know a lot of kids that have been getting the 24 hour fever bug, so we assumed that's what it was. Monday I was convinced she had a bladder infection. The doctor on Friday had suggested that maybe she had one, she had been complaining of her butt hurting, and was peeing a lot. So, Brad heads to the doctors office to get a specimen cup for her to pee in. Do you have any idea how hard it is to try and get a two year old to pee in a cup?! After much trial and error, I get her to pee in the cup, and promptly award her with candy.

Brad takes the sample in and a couple hours later they call to say that the UTI test was negative, I was baffled. BUT, she had sugar in her urine. Ok, what exactly does that mean? She explained that it could be part of a viral infection, could be diabetes, etc. WHOA! Back up the train lady. Diabetes? In a two year old? I had never heard of it it that early on. So, the plan of action was for Brad to take her in for a complete blood work up, and that they would call with the results. An hour later they call to say that they want her to be seen right away. Brad takes her in, and meets with Dr.Lee, he calls me and puts me on speaker phone so she can explain what they are going to do. She explains juvenile diabetes, and what they are trying to find out.

It was almost as if my whole being went numb. I couldn't really react, it was surreal. I felt like she was basically saying Alayna has diabetes. After that, I called Brad back and asked what he felt like she was thinking, and he too, felt as though she was preparing us for that diagnosis. I know that diabetes is serious, of course I know this, but I also know it's manageable. It's not like getting a diagnosis for cancer, so I don't want to sound like a drama queen. I just couldn't believe she might have this.

About 30 minutes later Brad calls back to say that she's ok, she does NOT have diabetes! They actually think that the first test was a mistake, that test showed her blood sugars to be over 300, but this afternoon it was only 65. So, a couple things could be going on, first, it could all just be viral, and second, this could very well be the start of diabetes. So for now, we're in the clear, they are going to run another test later this week, just to make sure it's in the normal range.

It was just such an odd feeling, I can't explain. I kept thinking, if this is what it is, we are going to be in the hospital for a few days, learning how to give her shots, changing our diets, etc. Our lives would have changed. But now it's all good, and I am so grateful. I looked at her tonight, while I was getting her ready for bed, and was just so happy to have her getting ready for bed in our home, and not trying to figure out how we're all going to sleep in the hospital.

So, tonight I hugged my kids a little tighter, and thanked God for those three, beautiful, perfect, amazing gifts he has blessed Brad and I with. And I prayed for all the parents out there who are finding out their child has some grave illness. God bless them all.

A perfect, perfect day!

Brad and I took today off, as it is MEA so no school for the kids. This morning I made caramel rolls for the girls, I asked them last night what special breakfast they want, and caramel rolls it was! After breakfast, we went to the Stearns History Museum in St.Cloud. We have a membership there, but haven't gone yet. It was such a fun time! They had a big playroom for the kids, it was my dream playroom too, all wooden toys/foods, etc. They had a kitchen/grocery store area, puppet theater area, train set area, and a reading corner. The girls were in heaven! After that we toured the museum. Brad thought the girls would be bored, but they were really into it. There was a nature preserve area that talked about different animals, a big old barn to tour, that showed how cows were milked 100 years ago. But their favorite part was an "eye-spy" type area. They had different themed rooms and then would have you find different items in those rooms. They also had a theater room where you could watch mini documentaries on four different subjects, we watched the one on the granite quarries, and how they came about, and how they are used. Very interesting! Even Alayna sat and watched!

We were at the museum for about an hour and a half, and then went to Lake George and had a picnic. They have a fantastic playground area so the girls were able to burn off some steam:) From there we went to the doctor, as Miss A has been sooooooo crabby, whiny, and crabby. She also has a cold, and we wondered if maybe she doesn't have an ear infection. She doesn't, which is great, but that just means she's crabby for no reason. They did do a throat culture to rule out strep, and I haven't heard back form that yet.

After the doctor we hit a couple garage sales, (mainly junk) and then went to the farmers market in town. My first stop there was the Collegeville Artisan Breads stand. The have the most incredible apple croissants, so we got two of those, and two chocolate ones (yay me!!). I also bought a loaf of their sourdough bread, which is to die for. I keep telling Brad that once I perfect my Artisan breads, I am going to sell them, haha!! I also bought more maple syrup, as I was out, and the girls got their face painted, of course!

Our final stop of the day was to go out to St.John's University in Collegeville. The colors out there are spectacular, and we wanted to walk on the trails next to the lake that take you out to the small chapel. It's about a two mile walk out to the church, and the girls did awesome! Emma was very busy finding stuff to bring home, I now have a piece of birch bark, some moss, acorns and rocks on my counter! The walk was incredible the colors amazing, and it was so QUIET out there! And of course, I forgot to bring my camera:(

It was such a wonderful, perfect day. The kids were all in a good mood, and Brad and I were just reveling in the relaxed mood we were all in!! Tomorrow I am going to head down to southern Mn to visit the grandparents. I am leaving around 1:00, and will head down to see Grandma Trellis for a couple hours, then over to stay with Jim and Lori. Sunday morning I am going to head over to Waseca and visit with Grandma and Grandpa. I am going solo this time. I feel a bit guilty for not bringing the girls, but I feel like I need a short break too. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Here's the recipe for the caramel rolls, they are super easy!

Caramel Rolls

1 tube crescent rolls- slice into 8-10 slices, lay in a greased pan
melt 2 Tbl butter, add 3 Tbl orange juice, and 1/2 C brown sugar, heat to boiling, pour over crescent rolls, bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until tops are brown. Take out of oven and immediately flip pan upside down onto a plate. Delish!!

I'm ready to go, mom!!!!

Tonia (my SIL who also does daycare in town) and I decided that since we have such wonderful, perfectly mannered, non tantrum throwing two year olds, we would start swapping them once a week as a reward for them being sooo wonderful.

HA! HA! HA! I was soooo being sarcastic. Actually what we thought was, maybe they have been so difficult because they need some change in their lives. So, Tuesday daddy took Alayna to daycare! She had a blast, and it was actually an unusually quiet, calm, peaceful day. I forget how needy my little princess is. Of course on Wednesday, she managed to dump Rice Krispies on the floor, grab the big chunk of cheese from the fridge and start eating it, and got into my makeup bag. She was full of powder, foundation and mascara. Ugh, it was a long day, to say the least. Fortunately Brad and I both tool tomorrow off (it's MEA), yay!!!

Rachel got a note sent home with her that her teacher wants her to be in an advanced math class at school!! I am sooo proud of her, and sooo happy she didn't get her math skills from me:) It's just her and one other girl from her class that will join other kids once a week to work on more advanced math stuff like problem solving, geometry (seriously, I never even took geometry and she's in 2nd grade!!) and other things. Yay for Rachel!!!!

Move over, Fricken Chicken, there's something better!!

Have you ever made something, sat down and took a bite and went, "are you kidding me??!!!" because it was so good? Brad and I did this last night. I made Chicken Marsala, and it was probably the BEST chicken dish I have ever made. (Sorry, Fricken Chicken, but you're still in my top five) It was a heavenly dish, and ohhh so easy to make. Here's the recipe:

Chicken Marsala

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 Tbl flour

1/2 tsp sweet basil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Dash salt and pepper

4 Tbl butter

2-3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

1 c Marsala wine or chicken stock

1 Tbl lemon juice

Grated parmesan cheese

It says to flatten chicken, but I didn't. Add the flour, basil and garlic powder in a gallon size baggie, add chicken one at a time to coat.

In a large skillet, cook chicken in 2 Tbl butter (might need a bit more) for 4-5 minutes on each side, until juices run clear. Remove and keep warm.

In the same skillet, saute mushrooms and garlic in remaining butter, 4-5 minutes, or until tender. Add the wine or broth and lemon juice, stirring to loosen the brown bits from the pan. Bring to a boil and cook until liquid is reduced by a third.

Return chicken to the pan, sprinkle with parmesan cheese (I grated some fresh Parmigiano Reggiano). Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 1-2 minutes.

That's it, so easy, and sooo good! I had a fresh loaf of bread, and some cheddar mashed potatoes to go with it.

This afternoon for snack, I tried a recipe for peanut butter rice krispy bars, although this one called for chunky peanut butter, honey, and milk powder along with the rice krispies. Well, as most of you know, we cannot have peanut butter in the house, so I used sunbutter instead. It tasted good, but it didn't stay together, so I figured I might as well melt marshmallows and mix that in, since the original recipe didn't call for it. It turned out good, just very gooey. I liked the addition of the honey, and the kids scarfed it down!

Tonight for supper, I made turkey soup. I had a huge bag of frozen turkey stock that I put in the crockpot, added carrots, potatoes and egg noodles. It was a nice hot supper for a cold day, and I figured it would be good for Brad's cold too.