October 18

Today was gloomy and gray, so we stayed and home and did home-y things. The kids were remarkably cooperative, and I was able to sew while they played. Caleb's Halloween costume is finished, and Daisy's is almost there - I just have to make her some fur shoes. (Really. What five-month-old doesn't need fur shoes?)

Then, we baked. Today we made:

meatballs a la Maggie

roasted pork tenderloin, which was turned into my mother-in-law's world-famous burritos

crock pot chicken (did you know you can cook a whole chicken in the crock pot? 6 hours on high and the meat falls right off the bone! I shredded it and froze it for later use.)

and cupcakes

Caleb is kind of in love with our neighbor, Drew, and his girlfriend, Melanie. Do you remember when Drew let Caleb sit on his Harley? Sadly, Drew's bike was stolen last week. He's devastated, and yesterday was his 30th birthday. When Caleb heard it was Drew's birthday, he kept talking about cupcakes and singing "Happy Birthday". So today while Daisy napped, we made birthday cupcakes for Drew. Caleb chose everything - from the cupcake type (yellow, though I would have preferred chocolate) to the icing (chocolate) to the liners (blue). He even made Drew a birthday card.

Making the batter.

(No, I don't let him taste as we go. We'd already made the cupcakes, and I let him taste the leftovers.)

Seriously happy with his choice of chocolate icing.

The final product: pretty, and tasty. Not too bad for on-the-fly, from-scratch cupcakes!

Daisy woke up before we were finished, and was content to bounce in her jumper while we worked. I noticed today that both of her feet finally touch the floor - our tall girl is growing even taller! She really loves that bouncer now; it's especially fun because I remember how much Caleb loved it, too.

When Chris got home, he took the kids out to play, despite the gloomy, chilly weather. Clearly, both Daisy and Caleb were happy with that decision.

I love this photo because Daisy is focused entirely on Caleb, and Caleb is focused entirely on the soccer ball. It's the story of our lives around here.

Look for delayed blog posts the next two days - Chris' grandma passed away yesterday, so we're heading to Oklahoma for her funeral. Hopefully the kids are travelling pros by now!