The Holidays are Nigh

This was a bit of a wild dog.  Spiralized and deep fried with slaw and pickles for our victory over the Titans a couple weeks ago.

Parker has been continuing to enjoy the trampoline, even in colder weather.  He brought a blanket out with him once this week.

I feel like Esme and I have entered a really fun point of our relationship.  We've been playing games, singing and crafting together and it's so fun!  She also has your typical "you're the worst mom ever" moments, but these ones make me forget those.

Sunday gave us a nail-biter of an OT victory over the Chicago Bears.  Classic Chicago dog for this one, dragged through the garden.

Esme helped decorate the Christmas tree on Monday.  I decided to go back to an artificial tree this year after 8 years of a real one.  I figure we can go back to real or alternate, but I just wasn't looking forward to the maintenance of a real one.

Esme and I capped off the short work and school week with a trip to the theater to see Moana 2.  Not as good as the original, but really good!

Almost a Teenager - Parker's Birthday party

We celebrated Parker's 13th birthday on Saturday with a fun family party.

We had a loose theme of Secret Life of Pets. I made dog bowl cakes for Max and Duke, the movie's main characters and one big one for Parker.

I stuck with my Dominos pizza food plan and it's just the best.  We only get pizza delivery for the kids birthdays and I look forward to it so much!

Another sign that he's getting older is less physical gifts and more gift cards.  He's always been a tough guy to shop for and it keeps getting harder, but gift cards for apps or larger items have been great.  He did get a garbage can full of Hershey bars which is promptly stowed in his room for later!

Family stayed and hung out after the official festivities.

Happy Birthday Parker, we love you so much!

And Then it's November

Esme accompanied me to vote this year.  She got to see the whole process and I gave her as good of a civics lesson as I could.  She's excited to vote in 10 years.

We continued our mom-daughter day with seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  Our local high school was one of the first in the country to perform this.  It was the first non-musical for Esme and she wasn't a big fan of that.

I made a Hoosier Dog for our21-13 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.  This one has slaw, red pepper relish, and french fried onions.

Esme and I worked on a puzzle while watching election coverage.  Such a wild and volatile election cycle.

We finished the puzzle and went to bed.

There isn't really a notable dog for Jacksonville so I battered and fried some shrimp and topped it with a tasty sauce. This was a WINNER, just like the Vikes!

Halloween Week (and another power outage)

Thursday Night Football loss to the LA Rams gave us this beut.  bacon wrapped, onions, peppers, ketchup, mustard, mayo.

Esme did her first closet door mural, Frozen themed of course.

For a second year in a row we got Halloween snow.  We also ended the month like we started it with a power outage.  This time it was a branch that fell behind out garage.  The line looks it tact, but it broke something.  

The kids had dentist appointments then we headed out to my parents' house with the kids for dinner. Then Esme bundled up as we drove to a nearby neighborhood for her to trick or treat.

Grandpa took his tax for housing us.

We thought we may need to spend the night, but the crew arrived and got the power back on before 9pm so we headed back home.

We finished the week with #dinnerwithrobideaus.  First dinner since the wedding and we are looking forward to many more.

Trampoline and Trunk or Treat

Esme and I went to our church's trunk or treat event Saturday.  For a couple reasons we decided not to have Parker dress up this year.  11 was Jimmy's last year so he agreed it was a good stopping point. Esme has been obsessed with all things Frozen since starting her Frozen Jr play and asked to be Elsa.  I lucked out and found this costume for $5 at the thrift store!  It required a little mending, but nothing I can't handle.

She found a buddy in Olaf.

Jimmy took Parker on a trip to Dick's Sporting Goods while were out.  He loves all the exercise equipment.

I made an incorrect Coney dog for the Vikings loss to Detroit this week.  Should have had mustard, not cheese. Hopefully this isn't the start of a skid for the Vikes!

It's October!

We got both kids' school pictures back this week and I think they did great.

New Jersey dog for our 23-17 victory over the Jets (they play in New Jersey).  Esme also leveled up in gymnastics this week!

Ice cream sundaes and hot tubs!

Chilly twister rides with Nana.

My dad has been hard at work removing ash trees.  If you have never seen the damage an emerald ash borer does, here is a picture of the tracks under the bark.

For the bye week we made a tater tot hot dish dog.