Milk Jug Jack-O-Lanterns

For the last couple of years we have done milk jug jack-o-lanterns as a part of our Halloween decorations.  Pamela saw someone post these things on line and figured it would be fun to try.  So a few weeks or months before Halloween we start saving up milk jugs for the project.  All you have to do is draw funny/scary/happy faces on the jugs with a sharpie.  I'm sure there are fancier ways to make these but they always turn out great.  When we put them out we will cut an access flap in the back to stick a few heavy rocks. This keeps them from knocking over if it gets windy.  Then we run some plain white Christmas lights between the jugs and into each milk jug-o-lantern to light them up.

I keep this picture as a template for fun faces to draw

Even in the daytime they are fun

Jack-O-Lantern Update

At Night - Glowing Elmo

A few years ago I posted about the fun Jack-O-Lanterns we like to make.  It appears we may have taken a year or two off from carving pumpkins, or at least posting about them.  I'm sure we have still done pumpkins but they apparently have not been as photo worthy.  I did find some pictures from '14 where we did a fun one with Ryan.  At the time Sesame Street, and Elmo in particular, were his favorite!

With the lights on - Elmo is carved in relief

These are the only other pumpkin pictures I could find since then.  Ryan dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween and I of course dressed as a pumpkin farmer.

Ryan Pumpkin

Ryan and me dressed up - Halloween 2015

Date Night Phoenix - POSH Restaurant

Matt and I need to get better about going on frequent, scheduled date nights, but it's been tough with work travel and kid schedules and life in general.  But one thing that we always make it out for is Arizona Restaurant Week!!  Typically, we'll try to find some new places to try based on how yummy their prix fix menus look.  But this time, we decided to go back to an old favorite - POSH.

They call themselves "improvisational cuisine" because there is no set menu when you get there.  It's a list of items that could potentially be served that night, and you cross off anything that you absolutely would not want to eat.  Matt is brave and adventurous, so he doesn't cross off anything and leaves it up to the food fates.  I cross off a few things (I'm not big on red fish or animals that I've owned as pets), and then we waited for the courses to start coming.  You choose how many courses you want at the beginning (4, 5 or 6) and whether or not you want a wine pairing with each course (we were driving, so nope!)

Amuse-Bouche:
Little bite to kick off the meal: we both got a Basil Leaf with Cucumber and Coconut Ricotta.  Tasty and refreshing!

Course 1 - Salads: 
Matt got a Watermelon & Tomato salad topped with mint leaves.  Very summery and light, and Matt enjoyed it even though he's not typically a tomato fan.
I got a Butternut Squash puree with Sweet Potato Chips.  Fall-tastic flavor.
Winner: Tie

Course 2 - Fish:
Matt got an Uni mousse with Cucumber Wasabi sauce.  Neither of us had tried Uni before, and I was pleasantly surprised at how un-fishy it tasted.  It was strange to eat something that for sure does not look edible to me when I see it in the ocean :)
I got seared Scallops with Jalapeno sauce and Popcorn.  Who doesn't like popcorn?  It added an interesting crunch to the meal, and the scallops were cooked perfectly.
Winner: Pamela

Course 3 - White Meat:
Matt got Escargot with Purple and Fingerling Potatoes.  I would not try the snails.  Gross.  Matt didn't love them, but didn't hate them either.
I got Sesame-crusted Pork Tenderloin.  I'll never be able to cook a pork chop this well if I tried my whole life.  Why is pork so hard to cook?!
Winner: Clearly Pamela

Course 4 - Dark Meat:
Matt got Goose Breast with Plum and Porridge.  I joked that it might be the most Charles-Dickensy Christmas meal I'd ever heard of.  I tried a bite even though I had geese growing up because geese are jerks and sometimes bite your toes.
I got an amazing take on the BLT - thick-cut Wild Boar Bacon on a compressed Tomato and Romaine leaf.  SO delicious.
Winner: Once again, Pamela

Course 5 - Dessert:
Matt got a Chocolate Ganache cream bar with Caramel Sauce and Chocolate crumbles.  It was insanely rich.
I got a Peach Caputte (pattotie? carpute? I couldn't even Google this one... I have no idea what the waitress called this thing!) with Cream
Winner: depends on what mood you're in - Matt won for decadence, mine was nice and light

Finally, they top off the meal by giving you frozen Passion Fruit Lollipops with your check.  It was a great, exciting meal and a fun way to spend our night out.  We always recommend POSH to people looking for a fun, interesting and adventurous date night!

Mint, Grey & Blue Baby Girl Nursery

Decorating nurseries for our sweet babies was definitely one of my favorite house projects.  It's fun to create such a relaxed, cute space for the little ones to sleep (or scream) in.  For Audrey's room, I struggled with color options since I wanted to avoid pinks and purples.  Nothing against those colors at all - in fact, I love them!  But I knew she would get enough pink and purple stuff from our friends and family, so I wanted to give her some different colors in her world.  I bought a cute outfit at Carter's that inspired my paint choices - Mint Green, Silvery Grey, and Royal Blue.

First up, Matt painted the room in a lovely shade of grey with silver/blue undertones.  Then he added a 1.5' white stripe of paint around the whole room (tough to do with so many angles in her bedroom!)  And then because he hadn't taped enough yet, I had him put a 1' mint stripe within the white stripe so the green would pop off the grey.

We loved Ryan's furniture and didn't feel like doing a crib search all over again, so we ended up getting the same bed/dresser/changing table/toybox/bookshelf combo off Amazon, but in white this time.  I had to find white curtains, which was WAY harder than it should be!  But everything I bought seemed to have a weird tinge of another color in it, it was hard to find a pure white that was not sheer.  I think we went through 4 or 5 sets of curtains before I found some that worked in the room.

Next came decorative touches: her name in wooden letters with blue flowers hot glued onto them.  White frames from IKEA with decorative paper backing and card stock numbers cut out with my Cricut tool.  Some fun flowers, a great mint coffee table box from Target that is doubling as a headband holder.  And of course my throw pillow since no room in my house is complete without at least one.  Then my very talented sister, Kim painted her a blue flower on a canvas to add a final, personal touch to the room.

I love this room and it is such a joy to spend time with Audrey in there.  And I'll look forward to the day when she can voice her opinions and make the room truly her own!

Pie Engineer

A Pie Engineer Hard at Work

One of the best things about having little kids is that you get to teach them things.  Literally everything is new to them and you get to (have to) explain everything to them.  I love that our little guy Ryan is so curious about the world around him.  He is such a little sponge for information and wants to know everything.  This one was from a while ago, but it was one of my favorites.  He had just recently learned that his dad works as an engineer.  I don't think he knows what an engineer is, but he had learned the word and knew that his dad did that in some fashion.  Some time afterwards he saw a DVD player with words on it and wanted to know what it said.  Just as with everything, I read him the word: "Pioneer."  Ryan, not quite getting it at first, repeated it back as "Pie Engineer."   Even better.  I wish I could get a job as a pie engineer, that would be a pretty sweet job!