We had lots of fun with the Fouche’s here and are glad they got some beautiful fall weather while they stayed! They left early this morning and we’ve been finishing up painting and laundry this afternoon so we can get ready for our trip to China…soon we’ll be on our way!

Andrew’s dad, step-mom, and littlest sister are here to visit!
Jude was shy for about 5 minutes and then said excitedly- ‘Aunty Ray-Ray’!

He’s loving having everyone here to play with and laugh with.
Yesterday us girls saw Phantom of the Opera- so fun.
My first live musical- loved it.
Our time with the Fouche’s will be short but fun- a little music,

A little pumpkin carving,

(Chinese symbol for love and Happy Halloween!)

And a little punkin’ just starting to show… really it’s there…
I’m showing you with my cheesy pregnant pose…

We’re going into the 5th month and baby is about the size of a mango.
I love mangoes…
Happy Friday all!

An early Happy Birthday to my Mumsy whom I love so dearly.
A wonderful mom, gramma, teacher, woman, and friend!

A stack of classic novels from my thrift store hunting… I’m trying to build up our library of ‘living books’ for our kids as they grow, and for us to enjoy rereading with them. Most of them are 50 cents unless they are older and harder to find copies, still only about $2 or less. I already have a collection of Little House books, as well as some other random favorites from my childhood. Andrew has a few copies of Hardy Boys books (which I recently scored a stack of at the thrift store as well) and Tin Tin. What were your favorites as a kid?

The art of reading is in great part that of acquiring a better understanding of life from one’s encounter with it in a book. ~André Maurois

I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho Marx

Of anti-bacterial soap! Here’s an interesting article to check out if you are too…

To use or not to use?

Dr. Bronner’s is where it’s at people!

Jude discovers how much fun it is to stomp around in crisp fall leaves…

(…and won’t stop moving so mommy can take a picture!:)

A recipe from Whole Foods website that I’m loving…

Mini Pumpkin-Gingerbread Cupcakes
Makes 32

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed natural cane sugar
1/2 cup expeller pressed canola oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin purée

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a miniature muffin pan with mini cupcake liners or spray and flour the pan using canola or olive oil cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and sugar. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla and pumpkin, then add to flour mixture and stir to combine.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until done when tested with a toothpick. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then continue to cool on wire racks.

Maple cream cheese frosting

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon natural maple flavoring, or 3 Tbs real maple syrup

Cream together cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add maple syrup and maple flavoring and beat until well combined.

Once upon a time I gathered some beautiful supplies and told myself I’d become a real scrap booker, turning our family’s memories into a book of art to treasure forever. I wish I could say volume 3 is underway but actually, I’ve just slipped my pictures into regular albums and have come to a realization that this is about all I intend to commit to when it comes to our pictures. It is still really important to me, however, to keep track of our memories and our photos for our kids and their kids, so I try and date the pictures and put notes on them so we’ll remember some day. Recently I came up with an idea that is nowhere near the work of a scrap book but satisfies my need for some details to go along with our pictures- an album that has room on the sides to write the date and anything else you want to remember. Quick and easy.

I’ve also been trying to print out some pictures to go into the album that I might not normally- pictures that are of the smaller details of our lives but that give more of the feel of the season we were in.

I don’t even make myself use nice handwriting (as you can see:), so there’s no excuse not to keep it up to date and it will be a fun thing for us to look back on as the years go by. I also intend to slip in mementos here and there- ticket stubs, programs, etc. And maybe some day I’ll get to those scrapbooks, but for now I like this new and slightly more creative way of keeping our memories.