Happy Halloween! I am manning my usual post in the entryway with my silver bowl of candy awaiting trick or treaters. But, alas, I have only had two, and they were friends who were coming to trick or treat with the girls so, they don't count. Bad news for me, but good news for you that I have time to post some halloween pics.




You may be wondering where Macie is in all these pictures. I, too, was eagerly anticipating how cute she was going to be in her costume this year. However, much to my chagrin and definitely not due to my lack of persuading, her official position on Halloween this year is she is NOT participating and she is NOT dressing up. She is upstairs sleeping right now. She did tell Isabelle, however, that she will let Isabelle share her candy with her and sad thing--sweet Isabelle agreed. Nice.


Happy Halloween.

(This is a long overdue post since Jamie said I would post it as a follow up to his blog and I never did...oopsie) :)

Family Friday night started as a ploy to divert the girls attention from something they were not going to get to do (I don't remember what, but I do remember we went for some ice cream special at Culvers for the first one) and it has become one of our favorite family occurrences. Admittedly, Jamie has come up with the most creative Family Friday nights and Chopped has to be one of his best. The girls and I love watching The Food Network together and we have managed to suck Jamie in for one of the shows. He explained Chopped on his blog, but basically chefs compete in an appetizer, entree and dessert round to create dishes from a mystery basket of ingredients. We decided to have our own version of the competition. Tori and Isabelle competed in a dessert round. Jamie and Macie were the designated judges and I was the kitchen helper (they are only 8 and 6). We all headed to the grocery store (always a fun excursion) and Jamie and I strategically picked some ingredients for the girls to use. At home we filled their "mystery baskets" (aka lunch bags) with the special ingredients for their desserts. Their ingredients were E.L. Fudge cookies, a roll of biscuits and marshmallows. I use biscuits to make monkey bread and homemade doughnuts, both of which they help me with, so I was hoping that would trigger some ideas in their minds. They had 20 minutes to complete their desserts. At the end of the time the girls threw up their hands, just like they do on t.v. :) Tori was laughing so hard as she did her presentation to Jamie she could not even get any words out.



Tori made a biscuit stuffed with melted marshmallow, chopped E.L. Fudge Cookie. She served it with a ball of peanut butter mixed with more E.L. Fudge cookies.






Isabelle made a deep fried doughnut stuffed with marshmallow, peanut butter, chopped E.L. Fudge cookies and jelly and topped with syrup.





Jamie got the pleasure of eating both desserts. He wimped out on a decision and made them co-winners-lame ;). He gave Isabelle the award for creativity and Tori the award for taste. We decided for future Chopped Championships we should not give them so many sweet ingredients, as eating their desserts completely would have made us very sick.

Macie turned 3 last weekend. Unfortunately for her she had to ride in her car seat for 12 hours on our way home from South Carolina, but she didn't seem to mind. She watched The Berenstein Bears over and over and over again while chomping down pretty much an entire box of Cocoa Puffs. :)

I am a little late, but it is never too late for some birthday love. Macie entered our family 3 years ago and I cannot even imagine life without her. She was very much a bundle of joy and has continued to be that every single day since then. Jamie told me yesterday that I am one of the luckiest people in the world because I get to hang out with her all day and experience her little world. I can't argue with him. I am pretty blessed. I love this age and all the personality that comes with it. One of my favorite things to do is to watch or listen to her play or interact with her best friend, Puppy. Puppy has been with Macie since day one, thanks to the Petersons, and it did not take long for them to become the best of friends.



In the early days, puppy did have some competition for Macie's affection. Jamie tried very hard to manipulate who would claim the role of Macie's most prized possession (he would put her arm around her Buckeye bear every night while she was sleeping), but over time Puppy came out as her closest pal. Puppy has been there every night and every nap as Macie has laid down to go to sleep. It is not an option for her to go to sleep without him. I remember trying to pass off a similar color bear to Macie one night, after I had been searching for puppy way too long with no luck, but she would have nothing to do with it. I eventually found him and she contentedly went to bed. Puppy has offered his ear for her to rub and even his own nose for her to suck on so that she could drift into sleep. I eventually had to remove his nose as it was a choking hazard for Mace, but they have remained the best of friends.

In recent days, Puppy has taken on more of a real life role in Macie's life. He is no longer just her sleeping companion, but he has become her baby that we hold or rock or her support as she tries to go potty and as you can see from the pics below he is her #1 playmate almost anywhere we go. I am a huge fan of the book the Velveteen Rabbit and Puppy has nearly joined the ranks of a real animal. :)

So Happy Belated Birthday Macie and Puppy. Macie I wish for you that you continue to bring joy, laughter and life to all the people that you meet and that you continue to grow into the amazing little girl God has created you to be. And Puppy I wish you another year of love from Macie, which hopefully does not include anymore lost body parts. :(




"In good times....



and bad times...



I'll be on your side forevermore...



That's what friends are for"