Wordless Wenesday

Tasty Tuesday

I am fully aware it is not Tuesday, but for the purpose of this post let's pretend it is. You all know how much I love Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte. What I don't love about it....the price. You can easily spend over $10 by simply Purchasing a Tall Latte (the smallest size, translation for those who do not spend ridiculous amounts of money on coffee, and therefore are not Starbucks lingo savvy) three times a week. The sweet fix...I found a recipe for a Pumpkin Spice Latte you can make in your very own Kitchen for next to nothing!

There is a Blog I follow and many of you may as well called "A Year of Slow Cooking". Stephanie's Blog merely consists of recipes for your slow cooker. I LOVE my Slow Cooker. Start it in the morning and by early evening you have a meal. It is like somebody cooks for you!

Anyway, while wrangling both kids through eating waffles and drinking a bottle the other morning, I had Good Morning America on in the background. They did a segment with Stephanie on using your Slow Cooker and she made a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I have since tried the recipe and it is actually really good! So here ya go, courtesy of "A Year of Slow Cooking":

Ingredients:

2 cups milk (I used skim)
--2 T canned pumpkin
--2 T white sugar (I used splenda)
--2 T vanilla (not a typo. it asks for tablespoons)
--1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
OR: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a teeny tiny pinch of ground ginger
--1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
--garnish with whipped cream (optional)


This will make enough for 2 people to have a big mug with a bit leftover. If you are having friends over, adjust the recipe accordingly. I used a 4-quart slow cooker, but as small as a 1.5 quart will work with these amounts.

Add the coffee/espresso and milk to the slow cooker. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar, and vanilla.

Cover and cook on high for 2 hours if everything is cold. Whisk again.

Ladle into mugs, and garnish with whipped cream and additional cinnamon.

Rustin is 2-Months Old!

Rustin turned 2-Months old over the weekend and we saw the Doctor for his checkup today! This is more for my virtual scrapbook than anything else. Here are his stats:

Weight: 9lb. 14 oz.
Height: 23.75 inches

Rustin smiles when we talk to him, coos back at us, rolls from his tummy to his back, holds his head up, will hold your finger tightly and will follow us with his eyes....all of the developmental mile-stones he should have reached. Yaaaay, Rustin!

He has been sleeping his shots away today which has made my day very easy!

Introducing the Smith Clan

Let me introduce you to the Smith side of our family. We decided to take a family portrait for Matt's parents. We also decided to do it ourselves...here is what we got with 8 adults, 7 kids, our own camera, a tripod, a self-timer and Matt running back and forth about 50 times.

We laughed hard and had lots of fun doing this today! Here are some comical out-takes from our self performed photo shoot...

The Patriarch's of the family with all seven grandkids.

The Dickman Family. This is Matt's oldest sister Mindy, her husband Ryan and their three kids...Madison, Matthew and Sydney.

The Jones Family. This is Matt's older sister Kristie, her husband Philip and their kids...Colby and Keelie.

Us...in our first attempt at a Family Portrait...this would have been great except I'm not sure what I was going on about...

This is Matt, the Love of my Life and the Father of my Children...True to Form.

Just Plain Wrong

I thought of making this a "Wordless Wednesday" post. Then I thought otherwise. Probably not a good idea to post these pictures with no explanation, it could quite possibly lead to an investigation of my parenting skills. I also thought it might make a great "Not Me Monday" post, but I definitely could not wait until Monday to let you see these pictures. Let's take a look at each picture and I'll provide you explanations as we go:

Picture 1: So this is where the Just Plain Wrong begins. Yes, this is Rustin in a Pink Doll Stroller which definitely warrants a three-part question:
A. In a house of boys, why do we have a pink doll stroller?
Answer: I found this on clearance at Wal-Mart during the summer and decided pick it up as a Christmas gift for my Niece. Ryder found it tucked away in Rustin's closet and proceeded to pull it out and push it around every chance he got. Choosing to pick my battles, I decided to let him have the pink doll stroller.


B. Why is Rustin sitting in the pink doll stroller?
A: Ryder, Rustin and myself were in the backyard after lunch letting Ryder run some energy off before nap time. I spotted some big piles of Dog Poo and decided if Ryder would land anywhere it would be in the said piles of Dog Poo. The pink stroller was on the Patio and I thought to myself..."this stroller looks Rustin size...I'll just put him here (strapped in you'll note) while I pick up the poo.".

C. Why do you have a picture of Rustin in the pink doll stroller?
A: Seriously...how cute does he look? Are you telling me that you wouldn't have run to get the camera and capture the moment forever?

Picture 2: Well how sweet is this? Ryder decides to give his little brother a casual push through the grass. How dangerous can that be? I mean if he were to accidentally dump him over, the grass is nice and plush.

Picture 3: But wait...grass is no fun...this thing pushes much easier on concrete.

Picture 4: And with that...he was off and yelling "Weeeeeeee!!!" all the way. Our cute little photo session ended promptly, so that Mom of the Year here, could rescue our precious little 8-week old cargo from the danger of a 2-year old who is full of adventure and speed!

So in a "Wordless Wednesday" and "Not Me Monday" sort of fashion, let these pictures speak for themselves as I tell you that I definitely did not let my 2-year old push my 8-week old baby boy around in a pink doll stroller while I snapped away with the camera...that definitely was not me!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?

Ryder, Rustin and I ventured out to the Fort Worth Zoo today. Believe it or not, I have never been to the Fort Worth Zoo before. It was really, really nice. The weather was perfect here today and the Zoo was not the least bit crowded. We were able to get up close at all of the exhibits. Ryder practiced all of his animal sounds. Rustin is always such a trooper and just goes along with whatever I plan. God totally Blessed us when he gave us that Angel.

Halloween 2009

Did you know that one of Matt's favorite times of the year is Halloween? Ummm....I'm not kidding when I say that he spends months preparing for this one night. He spends hours on websites looking for ideas on new gadgets he can build in an effort to scare the pants off of teenage boys. He spends endless weekends then building these props from scrap materials. He rigs electrical wiring and motors so that they jump out and scare the living pants off of all those who walk past them. He reads blogs of others who also love making these props....I make fun of him so hard...but it really is cute how much he digs this kind of stuff!

Halloween has been so much fun for me over the past ten years. My sisters and I never went Trick or Treating growing up. We lived in the country and in the 14 plus years I lived in that house, we never had a single Trick or Treater. We didn't even buy candy! Our town usually had a street carnival on the Main Street and that is what we did for Halloween.

When Matt and I got married in 2000 we bought a little house in a small new addition. This was the first time I can remember experiencing Trick or Treaters. We had a few decorations for our yard that first year and have continued to collect and grow our Halloween Extravaganza ever since. We have so much fun! He puts so much time into the props he has in our yard and this year he thankfully got a lot of help from his Dad so that it all got finished and up in time for last night.

I took Ryder out Trick or Treating with my Sister and her Little Girl. Rustin was a trooper and made the whole trip around the neighborhood with Ryder in my sling. When we got back to our house, there was probably a crowd of at least 30 people standing around our yard. I was literally scared that I was going to lose Ryder in the crowd of our front yard. You guys...it was CRAZY!!! It made Matt super happy though and I really think the kids and parents get a kick out of it!

We had so much help yesterday from Matt's parents, My Mom and Sisters, Matt's Sisters and their kids came over...it was a huge party last night...I can't remember a more fun Halloween! Ryder was so excited they were all there and went looking for everybody when he woke up this morning. Poor guy was disappointed when he realized it was just us! Here are a few pictures from our festivities.

Our Front Yard

Matt and I with the Electric Chair

Our Little Aggie Trick or Treating

Rustin was a Spider