Annie's surprise baby shower

One of the girls in the nursing program is due November 28th!!!!  We had a surprise shower for her yesterday!  She had no idea.  She thought she was coming over to study.  She was so surprised.  :)  We also knew the sex of the baby, but she didn't, so we all got to buy pink and then when she opened up the first gift she found out she was having a GIRL!  It was pretty emotional!  Nursing school has led me to some amazing friends!!!!  My girls!  This is just some of us because not everyone could come.  Our little nursing student family is the best!  I think last semester we were with each other more than with our own families!

Fried Okra

Remember how we started our own veggie/herb garden?  Well thus far we have enjoyed (and ate!) 3 jalapenos, 2 tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and 3 okra.  We fried up the okra yesterday and it was delish!  OK, don't let the okra soak in the salt water overnight!  It was a little salty.....even for me.......and I LOVE salt!  Sean also made homemade chips from tortillas yesterday, which were so good.  We have pumpkin seeds to make and we have to get our pumpkin gunk baked and pureed for our homemade pumpkin pies for T Day!!!!  BTW, I highly recommend growing a green thumb and starting a garden!  It's fun.  :)

Ingredients:


•1 pound okra pods, stem ends cut off, sliced 1/4-inch thick

•salt

•cold water

•yellow cornmeal

•salt and pepper

Preparation:

Put sliced okra in a bowl, sprinkle generously with sal; cover with very cold water. Refrigerate the okra for at least 1 hour. Drain; roll okra slices in cornmeal seasoned with salt and pepper until well-coated. Fry in a deep skillet in about 1/2-inch of hot oil until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

Haircut!

So Daddy gave Ry a haircut this time.  Usually, we take a trip to International Mall and go to this kids haircutting place, which I LOVE to do, but it is a little expensive.  So after much convincing, I gave in and let Sean give him a haircut.  He did great.....well, both of them did great!  I forgot to take a before pic, but you can just look at the shagginess in the pumpkin carving pics!  Here is his during and after shots.  Great job Daddy!!!!!!

Pumpkin carving

We thought Ryan was going to get super messy and really just dig right in and play with the pumpkin gunk, but he didn't!!!!!  He thought it was kinda icky!

Instead he just wanted to eat it!

Still snacking!

Final product, all lit up and on our front porch.

Pumpkin Patch

Little tyke maze

YUM!  Cheeseburger!

Big people maze

Hay ride

Cow.......or as Ryan says "kitty cat"

Pig (aka kitty cat!)

Ry made a friend....and is pointing out pumpkins to him!

Zonked!  On the way home!

Our second year going to the pumpkin patch in Masaryktown, bout 2 hrs from our house.  Last yr when we took Ry, he was only 6 mos old, so this time he really got to enjoy it!

"PANE!"

Ryan LOVES planes so last night we took him down to the Albert Whitted Airport in St. Pete and ate at The Hangar.  It is a restaurant that overlooks the runway and you can sit outside and watch the planes.  The food was delicious, too.  Ryan had so much fun.  We even got to go out and check the planes.  His kids menu is a plane that you build and then it has the menu on the little plane (see pic one).  :)

Deep dish pizza casserole

Prep:  10 mins
Bake:  20 mins

1 12 oz Velveeta shells and cheese
1 # ground beef
1 medium grn pepper chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 8 oz can pizza sauce
1/2 cup Kraft shredded low moisture part skim mozz cheese

Prepare mac and cheese.  Brown meat with green pepper and onion.  Drain.  Stir in pizza sauce.  Spoon dinner into 8 in square baking dish.  Top with meat mixture.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Cover with foil.  Bake at 375 for 20 mins. 

Makes 4 servings.

We made this last night and it was super easy and Ryan really enjoyed it....so did we!  :)