may i recommend...?

After much thought here are some of my current favorite things (i realized they are all related to food and children):

what to serve--

1) Allergaroo

I found this at Krogers and i love it. It's like a healthy substitution for canned pasta. it's also great b/c it is gluten free, milk free and soy free (for my friends out there who need good options for kids with allergies). Price especially loves it.

i usually serve it on nights when bruce and i are going out on a date or i need a quick dinner for price before the rest of us eat.

how to clean up--

1) Dustbuster

this little hand held device saves me from getting frustrated after 1 preschooler and 1 toddler eat at their little table.

Now as soon as they are finished eating i just grab this little gizmo, that i received as a wedding present 10 years ago, and WHALLA! the mess is gone. it's like mommy magic!

where to eat saturday morning breakfast (with or without kids)--

2) Garden Cafe

one of our family traditions is to go out to saturday morning breakfast. Well with the weather getting nicer we decided to branch out from our usual rotation (cafe brazil, dream cafe, etc) to go to the Garden Cafe.

This is definitely going to the top of our list for the following reasons:

a) you order at the counter, so less waiting...always a good thing with kids

b) while you wait for your food you can grab a table out back in the real garden and your kids can play in the enclosed playground back there.

c) delicious food! i'm not usually an omelet fan...this was the best omelet i've had

d) when you get there early you have the place practically to yourself, so while enjoying your fabulous food you can soak in a very peaceful environment (garden setting with birds chirping and a gentle fountain bubbling).

e) a roll of papertowels at every table! thank you!!

here's the info:

www.gardencafe.net 5310 Junius StDallas, TX 75214 (214) 887-8330

so there are the recommendations! bon appetit!

Table for two please

Price has officially boycotted the high chair and only wants to dine with his brother.
Despite the inconvenience of not being able to contain a busy toddler during mealtime, it makes me smile every time i see them both sitting at that little table.

what to do with a pumpkin

So during our trip to the arboretum we (i mean quade) chose a pumpkin
to adopt and bring home with us.
While price was sleeping one morning Quade and i had our
pumpkin carving adventure.
I have always hated grabbing slimy, stinky seeds out from the pumpkin, but
now that i am the mom i had to set a good example and be brave.
I boldly plunged my hand into that orange abyss and withdrew the
aforementioned disgusting mass of stringy seeds.


Quade attempted to pull out seeds using a children's spoon.

We (i mean I) then cut out the cliche pumpkin eyes, nose, and mouth.
But it was completely worth it when i put the candle inside and
watched quade's face also light up to see our glowing creation.


We decided to clean and dry the pumpkin seeds overnight. Then the next day we mixed them (~1 cup)
in melted butter (1 Tablespoon) and salt (1 teaspoon) and baked them on a cookie sheet for 50 minutes at 250 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes until the seeds were lightly brown.

Unfortunately the jack 'o lantern only lasted about a week before it started to rot =(. I guess that's what happens when you live in texas and it's in the upper 80's in October!!

make-up artist?

This is the result of the following scenario...
1) Mom and younger son out running an errand
2) Dad outside uprooting two dead trees
3) Mom's make-up left on downstairs bathroom counter
4) curious toddler with creative enthusiasm left alone inside the house...


we are grateful that this was the worst that happened.

Pumpkin time!

So it's that time of year...my FAVORITE time of year! FALL!
Here are a couple of pics from a visit several weeks ago to the Arboretum with about 30 of our closest friends. =)


Bree, Dylan and Quade...here's a pic from last year:

The bro pic...and here is last year's pic:

This is how i found them...

Quade handing Bree a mum...Holly and i decided that if they ever end up getting married this picture will be priceless.