Halloween!

I have another post to do about a trip to Covered Bridge Festival, but I'll do Halloween first :)

We carved one of our homegrown pumpkins. He drew the face on and I cut it out.

Connor's pre-kindergarten class had a fun filled Halloween party. They went trick-or-treating at the school and played games. Connor's favorite game was "wrap the high school teachers like mommies" (mummies) with toilet paper. He made sure I knew that it was clean toilet paper, not dirty. Thank goodness for that! lol This was his haul from school:

We were supposed to have severe thunderstorms last night. At least two neighboring towns rescheduled trick-or-treating. Ours did not, and it ended up being a perfect night. Not too cold, not too warm, and a fine mist at the end.

Connor was a fireman. It's a raincoat he was given for his birthday, so that worked out nicely. I painted my face just for fun. His cousin came with as a vampire.

I didn't take a picture of it, but he got a ton of candy. Even a few full size bars. We had beef stew and chocolate cake at home.

Throwback Thursday - This is me in 1995, 15 years old. This was the night I met my future husband :) 

Fire Safety Week

This last week was "Fire Safety Week" at school (and apparently nationwide).

The local fire department visited his school. His artwork for week was flames and a firetruck. 

Yesterday, we went to a Fire Safety Day.

He "fired" the machine gun once. He said he was done.

CN brought out their Operation Lifesaver "train". 

I had to get this picture for my uncle. He worked on a railroad for years and also worked with Operation Lifesaver. 

Lake County Sheriff helicopter came to visit.

Putting out a "fire"

Putting out a Fire!

Fire department taking apart a car

Do not put things on the tracks! 

So it was a touch of railroad safety too! 

First Days of Pre-Kindergarten!

Connor started school! He's going three days a week for 2 1/2 hours. It's a program run by the local high school. There are high school seniors who participate in the class and get college credit.

On his first official day, he had a hard time getting out of bed. He told me that he needed to take a little nap before he actually got up.

He loves his backpack. It has a detachable lunch box that he takes his snack and drink in.

He was so excited! 

His first day went well. No tears from him. I held it together (barely). The second day was not as good. He grabbed my hand and asked me to come do a puzzle with him. I told him, "No, you go do the puzzle, I'll be back later." He took off, but right after I was out of the room, I heard him come running and "Where did my mommy go?!". He told me later that he cried. 

This last week was fine. We had talks about how he's going to go to school for a few hours and then I'll be back to pick him up. He's having a lot of fun and has already earned a sticker for his folder! 

He already brought home his first Scholastic flyer. I am so excited about that! He loves to look through books and be read to. I hope he always enjoys books!

Brookfield Zoo and Hesston Steam Museum

Ok, I'm really far behind on updates. I need to blog about the New Kids on the Block concert, but I'll wait until I'm a bit more awake :)

Last weekend, we went to Brookfield Zoo with Jon's mom and niece.

The kids rode a lion.

Played with dinosaurs.

Rode a zebra and a warthog.

Visited butterflies

and giraffes

and Connor got to be a vet! 

On Sunday, we drove out to LaPorte, IN and visited the Hesston Steam Museum for their family day. 

steam roller

1/4 scale steam train, how cute is that?

1/8 scale steam train, this one was the most fun! 

the largest one, can't remember the scale

found some neat tractors in an old garage

!! 

found these two lovelies in a different garage

how cute is that caboose?

BzzAgent Report: Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I recently received a BzzAgent Kit for Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I use quite a bit of evoo in my cooking. This company is unique because it makes only olive oil.

Olive oil is good for you! According to their website, "Beyond the flavorful taste, there are many health benefits of olive oil. It’s naturally free of cholesterol, trans fat, salt, sugar, and gluten. In addition, olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat (that’s the good kind)." That's something we can all get behind, right? You can substitute it for butter or margarine and other oils.

I have used it to replace margarine when making scrambled eggs and sauteing vegetables. You can even use it for cleaning and on your skin!

Here are two recipes I made with it:

Pan Roasted Chicken and Mushrooms with Cream Sauce

Add 1 T olive oil to pan and turn heat on to medium. Add 1 cup sliced mushrooms and saute for 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan.

Add 1 T olive oil and 3-4 chicken breasts. Heat over medium heat for 5-6 minutes per side or until completely done. Remove from pan.

Put mushrooms back in pan and add 1/2 c chicken broth. Heat for 3 minutes. Add 4 oz cream cheese cut into cubes and 1 T Italian seasoning. Gently stir until sauce comes together. Pour over chicken and serve.

And then I did grilled zucchini. I had one small zucchini from the garden that I cut into quarters. I put it in a Ziploc bag with Filippo Berio evoo, Pampered Chef chipotle rub and a bit of kosher salt. I did not measure anything, sorry. I let them marinate for about 20 minutes and then Jon grilled them over medium heat for 15 minutes. They could have grilled a few minutes longer, but they were delicious! 

Click here to find out more about Filippo Berio olive oil!

Click here to sign up for BzzAgent!

(BzzAgent is free, and is not a referral website!)

Fire Safety House

Last week, we took Connor to Chick-Fil-A for their family night. They had the local fire station come out with their fire safety house.  It's a converted rv that they use to train people (kids mostly) on how to get out of a house that's on fire.

Then, Connor and Jon sat in the fire engine.

We went inside and had dinner. 

Connor met the Fire Cow.

However... after all of this was over, Connor started freaking out. He didn't want to go in his bedroom. He was convinced that it was going to fill with smoke. He has been concerned that the smoke alarm is going to go off and asks me at least 10 times every day. This event was last Tuesday and he's still talking about it. 

He wore his fireman rain coat a few days last week, saying it made him feel safer.

A Few Updates

We have a new car (truck)! 

2013 Chevy Equinox LT1

We love it! 

Connor got to meet Spongebob at the new Meijer grand opening! 

Acorn squash is taking over everything!

Melrose peppers

First Rutgers tomatoes

Peaches!

French Marigolds

Nasturtiums