You've been Boo'd!

One of the best sounds in the world is to hear your family trying to contain nervous, excited laughter together!

Have you ever gone Boo’ing? We went Boo’ing for Family Home Evening on Monday night and it was a blast! Last week I was reminded of it when reading a favorite blog and when I explained it to the boys, they loved the idea. In fact, they immediately disappeared into their room and began drawing and cutting out ghosts with “You’ve gust been booed!” written on about a dozen sheets of paper. Easton thought it was gut-laugh-funny to write “gust” – he’s got such an easy sense of humor!

I baked up three loaves of my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip bread and wrapped them up so that we could go out right after dinner. I showed incredible restraint because I've been craving baked sweet breads lately. We were going to drop these treats on doorsteps of friends, ring their doorbell, and run like heck so we wouldn’t be found out. The kids were sooooo excited they could barely stand it!

Easton climbed the three sets of stairs to get to our neighbors with two little girls. He dropped the loaf outside their door, rang their doorbell, and ran down the stairs as fast as he could. He heard them open the door and begin calling out “Hallo? Hallo?” to which he couldn’t stop giggling over and Ryan couldn’t stop grinning!

Meanwhile, I’d already begun walking up the street with Morgan and Jake bundled up in the double stroller. McKay was hanging back so he could Boo the Blauchs as Dad and Easton left our building. McKay soon came running up the street with Dad with the biggest grin on his face! Success! Dana was brave enough to answer the door at night while her husband’s deployed but called to make sure it was us so she felt comfortable eating the treat from someone she knew.

Then we walked into downtown Schonaich to get our last door done, the Williams. This one would be tricky because they have a big friendly labradoodle and a locked gate we know how to open. Ryan took Easton, McKay, and Morgan on this one as I headed around the corner and down the street a bit – ya never know how families with strong young boys are going to react to being ding-dong-ditched and I wanted to get a good start. Soon enough, my crew came running and giggling down the road to join me. Seriously my favorite thing ever – hearing them all trying to contain their nervous, excited giggling!

It was the perfect clear, crisp fall evening and the walk home was filled with giggles and stories of their success. We've had a beautiful sunny fall this year! My family growing up enjoyed doing this sort of thing now and then for FHE. As much fun as it is to be on the receiving end of delicious treats, I think it’s so much more fun being the giver!

And because I'm in a serious sweet bread baking mood and perhaps you are too - especially pumpkin -- here's the recipe!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread - Moist, Delicious, Easy!

5 eggs

1 cup oil

1 15oz can of pumpkin

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

2 3.4 oz packages instant vanilla pudding

2 cups chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix first three ingredients, beat well. Add remaining ingredients except pudding and mix until blended. Then stir pudding into mix, add chocolate chips, and pour into bread tins. Bake for approximately 1 hour - mine took 1 hour 20 minutes to pass the clean toothpick test. I placed foil on top for the last 30 minutes to prevent the top from getting too dark.

Makes 3 medium sized loaves or two 9x5 loaves. Recipe begged from my friend, Diana Porter. Enjoy!

Happy are we!

Today was just good. Not WOW, but satisfying. I feel really blessed, even though I didn’t accomplish a darn thing to meet my nesting needs and we just watched the series finale of one of our favorite shows - Friday Night Lights. But here’s a list in no particular order of what I’m loving in the moment today in spite of it all!

Watching my belly shape-shifting never gets old! Such a miracle!!! Only one month left as of today!

Perfectly cool weather temps for a rotund lady like me to not swell up and have cankles thus far in my pregnancy! Yahoo! 60-75 degrees is my happy place.

Morgan now doesn't fit snuggled up next to me on the couch because of this big belly. As we watched the Women's World Cup final last night between the USvJapan, she kept falling off and getting mad at me. I couldn't help but laugh!

I love that just about any mood Morgan's pulling can be remedied by tickling, or threatening to tickle, with "spider fingers"! Oh how I love her girly laugh!

Listening to the boys make up games and including Morgan - life is so much better w/o the tv on! Why do I forget this so easily?

McKay entertaining us with his hip-swiveling dance moves! Pure comedy!

The Italian market's incredulous cashier's reaction when I acknowledged the three munchkins fighting over treats I wouldn't buy were indeed all mine and that I was happy to add another to the brew soon. Coming from a family of ten kids has forever skewed my perception of what having a "big" family means! To me, big = over 5 kids. Perhaps it's the fact that you have to graduate from the standard minivan at that point?

At the commissary, Morgan hollered excitedly for 'vacados for "wacamole 'n ships" until they were secure in a bag going home with us. It's become a regular lunch around here along with a plate of sliced up fruit. Today was strawberries, per McKay's request. Yum!

The thought of being able to sleep on my back soon when the baby will no longer cut off circulation or limbs going numb by doing so. I'll have to ask Ryan then if he prefers the snoring pregnant lady to the hungry wipper-snapper invading his slumber. We've currently got a good rotation of musical beds going on at our house between the two of us having sleep issues!

A kind friend's hand-me-downs for Morgan and the boys. Morgan is all set for snow and rain with all those coats and boots! Yahoo!

Great deals from the yardsale site this weekend courtesy of Ryan: an almost new trampoline $50, desk for boys $15, and a standing wardrobe $15 so I can finally situate the kids' clothing and bring up the baby clothes from storage. It's about time we see what we've got!

Watching the kids buzz around Ryan as he put the trampoline together tonight.

Morgan got her songbird on during the final assembly phase belting out tunes she'll make up and words to go with them. She sings what's on her brain. She'll just repeat random phrases like "Hello Me -ah" and "E-Y-S" (abc song) or sing what she is doing. Tonight it was about going up and down the step ladder. Pretty funny stuff, she's a riot!

The happy faces of my bouncing babies!

And last but not least, our favorite Vapiano dinner re-creation tonight! Gotta love a dinner that's fresh and ready in less than 30 minutes! If you haven't been to a Vapiano's before stateside or here, it's kinda like Subway for italian food - with a bit more ambiance. You request your pizza, salad or pasta at a counter and they make it in front of you.

Our Vapiano's Rucola Ravioli

• fresh ravioli - ours was spinach ricotta but I'm tempted to try the basil ones from a local Italian store
• 1-2 tbsp butter
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp onion, finely diced
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chicken stock (I mix some up with a 1 tsp of "Better than Boullion" and a cup of water)
• 1 bag fresh greens, rucola and spinach work well
• cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly shredded
• pine nuts, we prefer ours toasted
• salt and pepper, as desired
• for heat, one or two red hot chili peppers finely diced

Bring water for to boil for ravioli. I add a good swirl of salt and oil to my water cuz I've been told to. When it's almost to a boil, heat a saucepan on medium high heat.

Swirl olive oil and butter until melted.

Dump ravioli into boiling water. I plan to boil the ravioli for six minutes and so I set the timer when I dump them in. Now saute onions and garlic for a few minutes (add the chili peppers now if desired - a little goes a long way!). Right before taking the ravioli out, add the chicken stock to the sauted mix.

Strain the ravioli gently and then add to the sauce. Plate as soon as possible - I make each person their own plate. Top the ravioli generously with greens, sprinkle on the parmesan cheese, tomatoes, salt and pepper, and pine nuts. Enjoy!

My kids, when starving, were excited to eat it and even said "thank you, Mom" for making it! It's simple and without extreme flavors but then five minutes into the meal they got picky - as always - and ruined my zen moment. Typical. They're not fond of the ricotta spinach filling . . . or the salad greens . . . or the tomatoes - it's always something! And I begin dreaming of eating meals at a restaurant in complete peace and solitude.

And then I look through the pictures from this evening and can't wipe the grin off my face. I am blessed!