Our little monkey

We thought this costume was appropriate for Charlie since his number one favorite food is bananas. I think he looks so adorable! Yesterday he went to visit Mimi (Dave's grandma) to show off his costume. She just moved here from San Diego, and we are so happy to have her so close. Charlie loves taking rides in her walker. Last weekend we went to a costume party with our friends, and Charlie did so well in his costume all night. I only got one picture below of Levi, Charlie and Cody in their costumes before my batteries died, so hopefully Leslie or Jessica will email me some of theirs (hint, hint).





In other news this week, we've been hit by the cold virus in our house. Charlie started off with the snottiest nose I've ever seen earlier this week, and then next thing I knew, I was knocked out by it. So far Dave has only had a sore throat and a little congestion, so hopefully he can keep from get it full on.

Pumpkin Patch, again

Have I mentioned how much we like going the pumpkin patch? :) We made two more trips this week: one with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Chris and one with my MOPs group and Leslie and Cody. On Monday Charlie seemed to catch on that we've been there, done that, because he was more interested in me holding him than running around.

Here he's trying to lock the door with my keys!

Peanut Butter Whole Wheat Waffles

I managed to make these this morning even with Dave being out of town, so I felt compelled to share the recipe. I like that it doesn't bother with sifting, or combining wet and dry ingredients separately, you just dump it all in the bowl and mix. And I like that I already had everything on hand, so no grocery store run. They're not overly peanut-buttery, just a hint of the PB flavor. They were actually some of the fluffliest waffles I think I've had. And since it was just me and Charlie eating them, we have the leftovers stocked up in the freezer. Charlie loves waffles for breakfast, so it will be nice to feed him some homemade ones for a while.

Whole-Wheat Peanut Butter Waffles
2 1/4 c. whole wheat flour (I replaced 1 c. with regular flour because I was afraid all whole wheat might make them a little tough, but I bet it would have been fine)
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 T. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/4 c. whole milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp. salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all ingredients. Preheat waffle iron, then spray with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron and cook until golden brown, approximately 3-5 minutes depending on your iron.

Yummy, yummy!

Peachy Preview at 28 weeks

We had another sono on Thursday, so we got to peek in at Peachy. He/she is looking good and healthy. They keep finding little things that they want to look at, so we get another sono in a month, too. That will be our 5th! Nothing ever serious, just good excuses to get another look at my baby. :) For comparison, you can click here for the 18 week sono.



We're still working on names. We've had the boy name narrowed down to two for a while, so we just have to agree on one. But we're stumped on girl names, still. The name we had in mind for Charlie is still a contender, but I just don't feel the same way about it that I did before. We've had a couple that we felt like we had decided on, but then found compelling reasons not to use them. (For example: Ellen. We loved Ellen. But then we realized it was a little too close to Bella. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but I'm embarrassed to admit how often I mix up "Charlie" and "Wesley" just because they end in the same syllable, so I can't imagine how many times I would mix up "Ellen" and "Bella," or end up calling them "Bellen" or "Ella.")

Pumpkin Patch, take two

We went back to the pumpkin patch again on Sunday with our friends Ben and Ashley. It's a great place for Charlie to run around. One of these times we'll actually come home with a pumpkin!

Pumpkin Patch

Charlie and I went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch on Tuesday with our church playgroup. We both really enjoyed it. Charlie loved picking up all the little pumpkins. That afternoon he took a loooong nap. We're already planning a couple more trips there this month.

I thought Charlie looked like such a big boy sitting at the picnic table eating his lunch off his plate just like the older boys.

TCU game

I've fallen behind on my blogging! We took Charlie to the TCU football game last Saturday. It's been a nice treat to be able to attend some games this year. We've spent the last few seasons in the production truck for the videoboard, but this year we decided to hire it out so we could enjoy some games from the stands. We met up with our friends BJ, Amy and Dylan for tailgating before the game, and then got to watch from a suite. The suite was great, but I realized I didn't watch the game nearly as closely as I would have from the stands.

Play Date

Alison and Shannon came over this week for a play date, and the kids had a lot of fun together – especially when they discovered the dog crates. They played with those longer than any other toys.



Bella wasn't sure what to make of it all, so she spent most of the time behind the chair in the play room. She usually camps out all day on our bed, but lately she's spent a lot of time hiding behind that chair, even when Charlie is no where around.

Fair Day

Hooray! It's time for the State Fair of Texas! We went yesterday and met up with Brad, Jessica and Levi, Lorrie and Gary, and Leslie and Cody. We enjoy regular game nights and dinners together as couples, so it was fun to get together with the kids, too. As usual, the theme of the day was eating (I did try the chicken fried bacon, and for the record, it wasn't that bad), but we did manage a couple other activities.

Cody, Gary, Charlie and Levi

Charlie really liked the petting zoo, especially the goats since they were at his eye level.

The boys all loved the car show!

Super Easy Salsa Verde

I am excited to have inherited a vegetable garden with our new house. I'm hopeful that I will be able to continue it, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying the harvest planted by the previous owner. The jalapeno plant is doing really well, so I decided to make some homemade salsa. I found this recipe from Tyler Florence on the Food Network and really like it (especially how easy it is):

Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa
1 pound tomatillos
1 large white onion, peeled and quartered
4 garlic cloves
2 jalapenos
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 lime

Preheat oven to 400. On a baking tray, roast tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices from the tray to a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cilantro and lime juice and pulse mixture until well combined but still chunky.

Remember, the heat is controlled by the seeds and the ribs from the jalapenos, so you can control the heat by removing some of them.

My next attempt will be making pesto from all the basil that's growing.