Surprise!

See, I said I'd keep on top of this and I am trying!! Well we had a very busy 2 week Fall break. It was fun spending time with my boys and being a mom. Took Kieran to his first SF Giant's game. He was thrilled and excited to be at AT&T Park for the first time. Had to get him the big giant finger and he wore all of his Giant's garb, some inherited from his big brother, Vinnie. I was so happy to take him to his first major league game and at such a beautiful stadium made it all the better. And to top it off, the Giant's totally kicked butt so it was great all around.

Next up: baking and cooking. I went to see Julie & Julia with the fabulous Nancie Fancy Pants a few weeks ago and it inspired me to pull out all those cookbooks and whip up some good fixins. If you are like me, I have like 40 cookbooks that I just HAD to have yet have not made one thing out of them. Hey, they look super fancy sitting on my counter. I LOOK like I cook. Fooled ya' huh? Well, my family has been fat and happy because I have been whipping it up for 2 weeks. Made chicken with sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms, portabella mushroom risotto (first attempt at risotto was successful thanks to Jim), Bobby's Goulash from Paula Deen's sons' cookbook, and the list goes on. For dessert, Jim's fabulous cookie bar with chocolate chips, coconut, walnuts, graham cracker crust and sweetened condensed milk. Heaven. Can I just say, homemade is so much better and more satisfying than take out. And with the holidays coming up I will be a baking fool. Be prepared for our favorite pumpkin bread. I can smell it now. YUM!

Made a trip out to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was much cooler there than in our neck of the woods so it was very refreshing. The kids loved seeing all of the different animals there and even got to touch a stingray!! Pardon the crappy picture. My camera is out of commission but a new one should be here shortly and I will be back in business. In the meantime, I am stuck using a crappy little Olympus point and shoot. Literally just point and shoot me because it SUCKS!!!

But just look at those faces! These boys love the ocean. We took them on 17 Mile Drive which was amazing as always. It is so beautiful out there.

And we actually decorated for Halloween this year. The house is all creepy and we have lights up and a lovely full sized skeleton on the porch that we scored at a garage sale for $10!!

So that's it for now. Interested in any recipes, let me know. I'd be happy to post them with pictures!!! Enjoy this fabulous Fall weather!!