What's Up Wednesday

I'm linking up with Shay, Shaefer and Mel the last Wednesday of the month again for What's Up Wednesday!

What we're eating this week:
Chili and cornbread
Sticky BBQ chicken drumsticks
Tacos
Loaded sweet potato nachos (thank you for the recipe, Becca!)
Grilled chicken and roasted root veggies
What I'm reminiscing about:
 
Spencer's conference in Chicago earlier this month a.k.a me and Jack and David's free vacation ;) Full Chicago post ---------> here.

What I'm excited about:
Our truck completely gave up the ghost last week (that part was not exciting) but our new addition is! We all love my new sweet ride ;)
 
 
There was a discussion about vans on fb the other day and my friend said, "Sliding doors were the creation of a benevolent God who knew how hard it was to get little kids in and out of cars without taking out other people's paint jobs." AMEN! lol
What I'm loving:
Jack quotes! He has said the funniest things this month.

• Out of nowhere - "Hey, mom! Turtles, pizza, and Arizona are my favorites!"
• In his prayers every day - "Heavenly Father, thank you that our truck broke so that we could get a "bootiful ban". Thank you for turtles, and kangaroos and frogs..." 
• After I watched this video that made me cry - "Hey mom! What are you feeling?! I see you feeling sad!"
• He came home from preschool last week so excited about his new art project - "Mom! I MADE GOD!!!" I totally believed him because we usually refer to God as Heavenly Father at home so I assumed that he learned "God" at his Lutheran preschool. But I did find it odd that they made a God puppet with colors and googly eyes! Then I cleared it up with a friend :)

I have no idea how he completely missed the Joseph thing, but I think it's so funny!

• Also, the funniest thing happened this week at church. Jack wore a temporary frog tattoo to church on his hand and a new guy in our congregation noticed it. He told Jack that it was soooo cool, and then proceeded to take off his jacket, roll up his sleeves, and show Jack all of his huge tattoos of a scantily clad women. Soooo... we won't be wearing fake tattoos to church anymore ;)

 

• I'm also loving that when you ask David what his name is, he yells, "HALL!" I've never heard a one-year-old go by their last name before :)

What we've been up to: 
All things Halloween! Highlights: Boo at the Zoo, mall trick-or-treating, and pumpkin painting. I love that puppy and spooky ghost :)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What I'm dreading:
Snow.
What I'm working on:
I'm working on getting the basement better organized for the winter when we will need to play inside more. During General Conference weekend, I bought a bunch of tubs at the Dollar Tree and purged and sorted through all of our small toys.
 
I'm also training for a five mile race on Thanksgiving. I want to beat my time from last year so I'm started working out about once a week with the Cornbelt running club again. (I took a nice long break after my half marathon) They do a six mile strength workout every Tuesday night throughout the winter that has 14 hills and I did my first one last week in the pouring rain! It was actually a lot of fun but I think it's because the rain distracted me from the miserable hills. I hope I'm still running when I'm old and retired like some of these guys! Actually, I'm just hoping I have enough motivation to keep running with them this winter in the snow!
 

What I'm watching/reading:
Still watching Parks and Recreation! Spencer now loves it more than The Office and I think it's tied for me. If you haven't watched Parks and Rec WATCH IT NOW!!!! It's so dang funny.

For book club this month, we read Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas. I loved it!
What I've been listening to:
Old Disney movies in the van - Lion King, Aladin and Beauty and the Beast. Driving around town is a lot more peaceful with a DVD player :) BUT I am forcing the boys to watch the Disney classics because they never choose them at home.
What I'm wearing: 
It is 3:44 pm on a Sunday afternoon as I type this and I'm wearing pjs :)
What I'm doing this weekend:
Trunk-or-treating at our church on Friday night and trick-or-treating on Halloween night!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
Thanksgiving and Jack's 4th birthday!
Bonus Question: What is your favorite Thanksgiving Recipe?
I have three favorites :) Sorry I'm not a real foodie blogger who includes pictures ;)
Stuffing

12 cups bread, broken up w/ crust (let it lay out for two days until it's stale)
1 cup melted butter
3/4 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 cup chopped celery with leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 TB dried sage

Brown onions and celery in butter over stove.

Mix in 1/3 of the bread and let the butter soak in the bread.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and gradually add salt, pepper and sage

Add the remaining bread crumbs

And here's the tricky part - my recipe says to cook it in the oven. That's it. So I guess cook it at whatever temperature you want until it looks done to you :)

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups sweet potato
1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk

topping:
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Boil and mash sweet potatoes. Blend in sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and milk. Put into baking dish and bake for 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Mix topping ingredients and pour over sweet potato mixture and heat for 5 minutes.
This Pecan Pie
What's up with you?!