We have had a really dry summer and the rains have finally been starting to come. When they first fell a little while ago a bunch of different mushrooms started popping up everywhere. I saw at least 6 different kinds. A little time has passed but here are some of the ones I could still find. I also saw show about a guy that eats everything and he wen to a place that specializes in mushrooms. The people forage daily for a million kinds. Makes you wonder if you are looking at something edible and delicious or deadly.

fall in a pine forest

All of Kingwood is not pine trees but we do have a bunch and this part of the park was quite full of them. She was specific about where I was supposed to sit and was adding to the pile. The video was shorter than intended because the camera battery died.

smoky chicken gumbo

Last night I made smoky chicken gumbo. It was spicy rich and wonderful but like all great thing in life it takes time. You just have to plan for when you are making it because the chicken is brined for flavor and tenderness then the chicken is simmered with aromatics to get the chicken super tender and make a super stock. Then it is pretty easy and fast especially if you have your mes en place meaning you dice up your veggies and get out the spices. For the recipe go to foodnetwork.com search Gumbo. It is from Guy Fieri. If you search just his recipes you will find it easier

Lights out

This was actually before Halloween but Rachel pulled a chair up to the kitchen(she does this more and more wanting to cook with me) and discovered she could turn out the lights. I let her turn out the light after the bath everyday but its funner when you don't have help, can do it a bunch of times and when mom makes surprised faces.

Trunk or treat

This is not the most exciting video but it is proof that we went to the trunk or treat that was a few days before Halloween. Rachel learned to say trick or treat..in her little kid way.

shadow

So I don't have a picture of it....yet, but mom said that Monday while I was teaching the art class and she was watching Rachel and Collin that She discovered her shadow! She was walking towards it to catch it and reaching down to touch it and then grandma (mom) played a game where she was chasing Rachel and Collin and catching their shadows. I have to try to get this on camera

Holloween

Me and Rachel went around my parent's street trick or treating. We met up with my sister Sarah and her family and my brother Dirk and his family happened to show up at the same time. Then everyone else and their kids seemed to come out at the same time as well. A lot of the neighbors are different from when I was a kid but they have seen us playing and going for walks at my parents and remembered us. Rachel learned to say trick or treat at the trunk or treat and was super good and only took 1 treat when offered and put it straight in her bucket then on to the next house. At one point she stopped and pulled some m&m's from her bucket looked at them and put them back. She knew they were candy. She tried to eat it through the wrapper on the way home. I was debating what She should be and Sarah found and bought the watermelon for $5! What a steal! She used the pumpkin she got last year from Grandma K.

winner winner chicken diner

I was always a little amazed when I heard tv chefs saying people should roast chickens more. It seemed like a huge task. BUT IT"S NOT! and it is super yummy. This may look like an all out feast but it was super easy.

Artisan bread- I made the dough yesterday baked half for another dinner and saved this to bake it my leisure sometime during the day.

Cranberries- cooked 10 min then cooled could have done it anytime

chicken- took out ick inside, filled with aromatics, and a little seasoned butter under the skin, roasted 2 hours turned once.

roasted vegetables- unused chicken aromatics + some potatoes and green beans, tossed with olive oil and steak seasoning. threw it to bake in its own dish under chicken halfway through.

gravy-made in the pan i roasted the chicken, from the drippings, water, flour and seasoning

the cranberries were new and i loved them a did Rachel. I don't think they are Josh's thing. Also roasted green beans although they look shrived and not super appealing they were really really good. try it. You'll like it

caleb

Sarah had her baby Sunday evening. He has much darker hair than his siblings

fajitas

we had fajitas a few nights ago and if you don't have a good recipe try Foodnetwork's Tyler Florence ultimate fajitas. they are amazing

John Beck

I am super excited if any of you don't know because the BYU quarterback John Beck has his best chance to become the full time quarterback. Well he will be the starting quarterback on Sunday. I remember watching him play at BYU so cross your finger he does well (no interceptions)

Dinner 10/21

This is probably one of the easiest dinners ever and Josh and Rachel love it. We got the recipe from and advertisement for Johnsonville sausages. They had this recipe as a suggestion for how to use their product ( I always buy the store brand). Rachel especially love rigatoni pasta because she puts her fingers through the hole then eats it off her finger.

1 pkg mild Italian sausage links

1 pkg rigatoni pasta

1 Jar your favorite pasta sauce

1 red bell pepper

2 cloves garlic

3 T olive oil

cook sausage according to directions and slice

cook pasta

saute chopped peppers and garlic in oil in skillet, add pasta sauce and meat. Heat and toss with aldente pasta. Easy. Yummy.

magazine outrage

So I love food magazines and I am really loving the 3 year subscription that Josh got me of foodnetwork magazine except.......I haven't gotten the next issue yet!!!!! I would usually have it by now and have been eagerly anticipating it and today at the grocery store i saw it this cover (also already on the web) already on the shelf. That is part of the deal with subscribing! you get it a little early. I WANT MY ISSUE!!!!!

elm grove park 10/21

I only remember playing at this park once as a youth and playing capture the flag. I has been updated over the years and Rachel enjoyed it a lot. There are actually 2 water fountains that have been there forever and still work. There are a few houses whose backyards line the park and have gates leading into it. How cool would that be for kids. Rachel is very brave and climbs all over the playground. Today we spent a lot of time in the swing.

elm grove park

dinner disaster

So i made the bread the other day so I would have some to serve with the baked potato soup i was making last night. I improve the baking and oven spring you spray the bread and oven with water several times during the first 5 min of cooking to make steam and prevent the bread crusting so it can rise "spring". Unfortunately when i went to spray the bread a second time i grabbed the 409 instead of the water bottle and well we could not eat the bread. And the soup did not properly thicken so i was then....sad.

carbonara

Wow I love good bread. Crusty crisp outside tender chewy inside not yeasty at all. These were a first try at personal sized loaves maybe for super sandwiches another day. Dinner was carbonara and asparagus. I had never had it before Josh made it for me. Admittedly although his version was good tweaked just slightly it becomes the original italian dish and more creamy and Delicious. The bread with pesto butter by the way was even better. pesto recipe another night when Rachel did not screw up her nap schedule and sit in my lap while typing

french bread

I love making bread from the artisan book that Igot awhile ago. One of my favorite is the french bread. I am making it again today. The only problem was it made to much for me to eat and the recipe calls for refrigerating overnight. Last time I tried making it in the morning and letting it sit in the fride all day then baking half in the evening for dinner and the other half the next day. It worked well after today however i would change 1 thing after the 30 proof before the 90 min one I would divide the dough then so that it does not loose as much air in the shaping of the loaves.

11/18 dinner

Last night for dinner I made shish kabobs. They we admittedly not the best that I have made but they were good and I love grilled veggies. We also had wild rice. I had to take a picture because i got to use the really cool serving plate Sarah got me for my birthday.

sweatshirt

Rachel has been able to wear short sleeve shirts for probably as long as she can remember which is posing a little problem now that things are cooling down a bit. I put her in a long sleeve pajamas and in the morning i found she had taken her shirt off. This morning I tried to put a sweatshirt on her and she was very distraught and unhappy until it came off shortly thereafter. We are going to have to figure this out or it will be a cold winter.

pumpkin seeds

So i have never had much success roasting my own pumpkin seeds but the last food network magazine i got had instructions and they came out really good. I don't think they will become my favorite all time treat but they were nice for a different fall snack.

RECIPE

remove seeds from pumpkin and rinse in a strainer to remove pumpkin. shake dry. they stick to paper towels. spread out on an oiled baking sheet and roast 30 min at 300 to dry them out.

toss with oil and salt or any combination of spices you like such as cinnamon sugar and bake 15-20 minutes longer. enjoy!

Pumpkin carving

There was a pumpkin carving contest at the party as well. I won first with this pumpkin i call Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater but there were only 3 that were finished and judged. I was hard because Josh did not come to the party so i had to watch Rachel and carry around the pumpkin carving as i went. Not a lot of time to chat with the other moms.

best buds

Rachel and Collin although they can struggle over the same toy are super best buds. Rachel frequently calls for Collin! Collin! If she sees his sippy cup she has to find him and give it to him and when we were going to go to the store i asked her if she would get out of the swing for the store she said "no" then i said we were going to the store with grandma and Collin and she couldn't get out fast enough. Oh and they love to chase each other.

One more video of Rachel loving the beans at Sarah's party.

tramp

If you look real close you will see Rachel convinced that she is a big kid and doing her very best to bounce and jump with them. She's only 18 months!

Rachel loved playing in the beans. She came back several times just to dive into the pool of beans. They are cool to run through your fingers and toes.

Party!

My sister Sarah being the planner that she is planned this fall party even though she is very pregnant and due in less than a month! There was a bounce house and decorated trampoline. A cardboard castle and pool of beans to dig in, pumpkin carving and painting for kids. Cookie decorating and crafts, a fishing game and hamburger/hotdog dinner it was a real blast.

computer time

One of Rachel's favorite things to do with Josh is to get on the computer and test her on all her words and sounds. Some of her most recient words are pumpkin, gobble (turkey) and identifying cooked chicken as such. She never wants it to end.

Beach

The other cool thing at the beach was these little fish that with each inflow of the water would nibble at our toes. I even managed to catch one in a bucket. Towards the end of our time there a storm blew in. You could literally stand on the beach look out and say "storms a brewing!"

we were trying to wash off the sand and get in the car and the wind was blowing and sandblasting us. It was a gullywasher of a drive home and Collin and Rachel who have not really seen rain because of the drought were amazed. I would have taken way more pictures but my camera battery died and i did not bring extras!

I have been very negligent in updating but i will try to get things going again. We visited the beach with Rachel for the first time while Julie was home between the end of summer term and beginning of the fall. We had fun Rachel was not to fond of the water but loved the shells and sand. we found that if we dug with our fingers in the sand near the water we would find small clams that were alive! when set down on the sand as soon as they felt some water they would stick out their little foot and burrow really fast.

slide

Rachel's sweet aunt Sarah found a small climbing play set with a slide. She charmed her favorite stuffed animal the monkey from some college girls on the plane to Texas she is giving him a good time putting him down the slide.

new play stuff

Sarah got playground equipment from kingwood garage sales and the kids are enjoying it.

4th

4th

this is at the parade in kingwood. Rachel really enjoyed the horses and cars but was disturbed when people made really loud noises. She was especially happy with all the necklaces that were thrown.

rainy day at zoo

Me and Rachel went to the zoo Just us and planned to pick daddy up when he got off work and drive home together. Problem was when we were at the zoo it started to downpour. We were under the pavilion that looks at the loin and ran to a building getting very wet. Rachel is still enjoying the zoo though.

zoo2

zoo with cousins

eating corn

wild dogs

We went to the zoo a little while ago and they were giving the lion his medicine in front of the public. Next door the wild dogs were going nuts because of the activity. The keeper also said that they were about to be called in for food. I would guess that just about all the zoo animals get really excited at mealtime. It was really cool to see when they run together and get in sync. they are all running exactly the same.

old mc donalds farm

Easter cake

I made this cake for Easter. I got the recipe from my food network magazine and I think that the grand kids loved it.

birthday

birthday

Rachel's birthday was the 2nd of April. She was quite reserved about the cake the fed grandpa a finger of icing at a time.

Houston Children's Museum

Rachel Really enjoyed picking up the ball s and putting them into the pegboard so that they bounced down to the bottom.

Houston Children's Museum

Mom was fliming and rachel was fast she almost didn't get it.

Houston Children's Museum

Houston Children's Museum

Houston Children's Museum

Houston Children's Museum

The day before her birthday mom, Grandma and Rachel went to the children's museum. The sticker say's " It's my Birthday!"