Noelle's First Halloween!

As soon as I knew I would be having a Fall baby, I immediately began thinking about Halloween costumes. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays and it would be Noelle's first holiday. Jeff and I always have some sort of ridiculous couples costume so we knew we needed a family costume this year, especially since it was Noelle's first. Thankfully, Jeff doesn't think this is silly and we usually start plotting and making our costumes early in the season.

When I started looking for baby costumes, I ran into two issues. Halloween costumes for small babies tend to be sized 0-6 months and expensive. I think a six month size range is pretty ridiculous, especially considering our little peanut is still wearing some of her newborn clothes. I'm also not a fan of spending a lot of money on a costume that will be worn once and most likely be way too big. Of course, regardless of this, I still began to stress out that she needed the perfect costume. On Halloween, my niece comes up to trick or treat in our neighborhood and I knew that Noelle would be staying home to pass out candy with Daddy, since it was supposed to be rainy. The weekend after Halloween we had a costume party to go to, so I knew that she would eventually need a costume. It was the perfect recipe for stress for a type-A, first time mama.

It all worked out and our little pumpkin had a great first Halloween.

Our bigger pumpkin isn't the biggest fan of being dressed up. He has his 'Mom, you're embarrassing me' look totally down.

Daddy is the sweetest and carved a very special pumpkin for our girl.

And our first Halloween as a family of 3 was a success! Just a couple of farmers with our sweet chicken.

We have called Noelle, little chicken, since she was born so naturally it was the best costume choice.

Have you seen a cuter chicken?! Doubt it!

This was such an easy costume to make. I found some DIY chicken costume tutorials online, but again they all seem to be geared towards bigger kids and use feather boas. Let me just say that feather boas are the most annoying things ever. I bought one to try and there are feathers everywhere just from having it in the bag and I didn't even take the tag off of it. So I improvised a bit so that my chicken would be comfortable and I will be returning the boa. I used a hot glue gun to glue single feathers to the front of a long sleeve onesie. I originally used spray adhesive but it left a heavy chemical smell on the onesie and I couldn't have her hanging out in that all night. So now I have two feathered onesies, live and learn. I bought a pack of plain headbands and used the white one to glue red feathers to. I actually used a peacock feather that had a wire in it, removed the peacock feathers, keeping just the red ones, and used red felt to position it and hot glue it to the headband. My mom picked up orange pants and also gave her Halloween socks, which we reused for this costume. SO simple! The whole thing took less than 15 minutes to put together and cost under $10.

Noelle's first holiday was a success! Even though time needs to slow down, next year will be so much fun when she can walk around to collect candy that her mom & dad will eat. Hope your Halloween was just as fun and that you are getting to eat all your kid's candy!

A perfect Fall weekend!

Anyone who knows me knows that Fall is my absolute favorite. Like most people, Jeff and I go apple picking every year and we try to pick a different orchard each time. We are so lucky that in New England there are SO many choices and hope to keep trying new ones until we run out or find a favorite. This year, we were kind of up in the air about whether or not we would go because we weren't sure when we were going to have the baby and how I would be feeling afterwards. Even though I wasn't really sure about it, I was holding onto hope that we would make it because as much as I look forward to apple picking every year, I always looked forward to apple picking with my babies even more. 

This weekend, we made our annual trip to a new local orchard, as a family of four (no cats allowed). It was a small orchard that allowed dogs so we were excited to avoid the crowds to let our babies experience their first time apple picking. I was a little nervous when we first pulled in because there were only two or three cars there and I thought we made a mistake and that it was just a farm stand. Instead, we found the cheapest prices, nicest people, and an almost empty orchard with the BEST apples we have ever picked. Seriously. The last weekend of picking is usually a pretty lousy selection but almost every apple was practically the size of a small pumpkin and there were so many.

Of course, our little pumpkin slept the whole time. LOVE my Moby Wrap btw.

Our bigger pumpkin enjoyed sampling the local fare.

He was so excited just to be there.

Picking out pumpkins with my babies. Rocky had to be held this tight because he pounced on every pumpkin like it was a ball. He was in his glory.

Since we were practically the only ones there, I started thinking that we wouldn't get a family picture and really, isn't that half the point? Hah! No, but really. Thankfully, my sweet husband is well-trained at this point and he set up the camera on a timer and propped it up on a pumpkin to take my favorite picture, ever.

My sweet family.

This is my happy place. It was such a perfect day. I can't wait for so many more experiences with my little family.

Summertime and the chili's simmering..

I am fully aware that there is still technically well over a month of summer left. The central air is on, the hydrangeas are (finally) starting to bloom, and we have a freezer full of italian ice. However, I made chili twice in the past week and there is not a leftover in sight.

Chili is a big hit in our house and I'm proud to say that the reason is not because I don't know how to cook anything else, although it used to be. We have both been itching for the first signs of fall and this was it. If you could see the look on Jeff's face when I tell him that I'm making chili, you would know that all is right in the world.

I usually make it on the stovetop but since I've fallen in love with my Crockpot (and stopped being afraid to leave it on while I wasn't home) I've discovered a whole new world. This the easiest recipe to begin with but when you throw the Crock in the mix, it's not even fair. I know that I'm a bit late to the party but I'm not sure how I lived so long without owning one of these badboys. My dear Crock was inherited from my future mother in law and I'm hoping we'll get another when we get married because there's no telling what I could do with two Crockpots going on the counter. I digress..

Before Jeff was diagnosed with Celiac, I used the chili seasoning packet from Ortega or McCormick. Since this was pre-diagnosis, I wasn't checking labels but after buying a life time supply at BJ's, I realized that one of the first ingredients was wheat. On a quest to bring normalcy back to our kitchen, I decided to make my own seasoning. WHAT. A. DIFFERENCE. Jeff said that my chili is not only my best meal but his all-time favorite meal. This is a great compliment, even from a man who will eat anything you put in front of him without coming up for air.

Chili Seasoning

Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

4 tsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. crushed red pepper or 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. white sugar
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Mix all seasonings well. Add 2 tbsp. for every pound of ground meat.

This will make enough for two batches, but double, triple, as necessary. I make a huge batch and put it in a jar so that I can just scoop out what I need. I also tweak the salt and sugar when I'm making larger batches. I just dip my finger in the seasoning to see if it is too sweet or salty and modify as necessary.

Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey
32 oz. can crushed tomatoes
16 oz. can tomato sauce (plain)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 medium sized tomato, chopped
16 oz. can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
16 oz. can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup salsa
Frank's Red Hot sauce (optional)

1. Brown turkey on stovetop until fully cooked and drain the fat.

2. Move the turkey to a large pot on stovetop or the crock pot. Add canned tomatoes, kidney beans, salsa, onion, tomato, and seasoning. Stir well.

3. Simmer on low for at least 30 minutes on stovetop or 4-5 hours in Crock pot. Add Frank's Red Hot to taste after it has simmered a bit. Too much too soon and it will be really spicy!

To make this kid-friendly, adjust the spices.