Ten on Tuesday

1. We were at my mom's last Thursday and the girls were playing next door with 4-year-old Sophia. Sophia has a cute little jeep and apparently, Mackenzie thinks she's big enough to drive it.


2. I tried to get some cute pictures of Mackenzie in her "1" shirt. This is what I got. Cute, just not what I was going for.


3. My mom. In Mackenzie's hat. Stylish, isn't she?


4. Election Day. It was gorgeous. 70 degrees. (Today, not so much. It's 39 degrees. We're all still in our pajamas.) So we played outside and went for a walk. Emma rode her tricycle some, she can actually pedal it. And Mackenzie just tried to keep up.


5. This is from November 2nd. Mackenzie at church. She always gets so excited when she sees us. Emma too. It's funny, because they couldn't care less when we drop them off. It's "See ya, mom! I've got to go play now." But they're always happy when we pick them up.


6. So, has anyone ever had a glass baking dish explode/shatter/break apart while it was cooking in the oven? That happened to me the other week. It's a mess. I was really annoyed. Not only did I have a giant mess to clean up, but the dinner I'd spent time making was ruined. All these tiny little shards of glass fell down the holes in the front into this catch space (for lack of a better term) that's above the drawer but beneath the oven bottom. And we didn't know how to get to them. And Maytag was no help. They wanted to send a repairman out. No thank you. Michael eventually figured out how to get the oven bottom out and he vacuumed it all out. I am attempting this recipe again tonight, but I will be using a cookie sheet instead.

7. Speaking of cooking mishaps. Whenever I make a pot roast or the like, I use my dutch oven. My sister and I were discussing this and she mentioned how she uses her Rachel Ray oval pan that we both got for Christmas two years ago from our mom. It's made for either stove top or oven use. I've just never done that because I didn't need to. But then I made a new recipe last week. One that called for the chicken to be cooked on the stove top then go in the oven. So I used it. All was going well. Then it was done. I put on my pot holders, took it out and set it on the stove. I took off my pot holders. Do you see where this is going? I needed to turn it because the handle was sticking out so I grabbed it with my bare hand. Brilliant. In the 3.7 seconds from taking it out of the oven and needing to move it, I forgot it'd been in the oven. Seriously forgot. Because, remember, I never use it in the oven! Oh my goodness, that hurt. I ate dinner with my left hand in a container of cold water. Kept it there for 30 minutes. By about 9:30, it stopped hurting and I could use my hand again. Where is my brain? Sometimes I think it's missing. Ask my husband, he'll agree.

8. Speaking of my missing brain. The next night (same day as those first pictures), me and the girls are out to dinner with my mom, sister and niece. I order Emma chicken tenders. Then I order my meal. When it comes it's a chicken philly. (I'm a beef girl. I don't hate chicken, but it's not my first choice. It's healthy and you can't eat beef every day, well you could but that's definitely not healthy. I cook it because Michael and the girls really like it. But if I have to choose, I'm choosing steak, burgers, etc.) I swear I ordered the steak philly. As I'm staring at it in confusion, Tara tells me that's what I ordered. I guess I ordered chicken tenders then chicken philly because I had chicken tenders on the brain - my missing brain. My sister even said she thought it was weird I ordered it - again, because I never order chicken out - but she didn't say anything. I then explained that for the record, if I ever order chicken again to please stop me. I took a couple bites but it just wasn't good. So I had french fries. And a couple bites of chicken tenders (because I do enjoy those) and when I got home two waffles. That was my dinner.

9. I should probably post some Halloween pictures, since it's getting awfully close to Thanksgiving.

Emma could hardly hold still for this picture. She was all about trick-or-treating and didn't want to stop for anything, especially pictures; Emma and Bree, I love how they're holding hands; Caroline, Bree and Emma.


My little pumpkin, sitting on our neighbor's driveway. Emma and Ava (Bree's sister).

Me and Mackenzie; Michael and Tim taking the girls trick-or-treating; Mackenzie with her first piece of candy -a tootsie roll. We were a ways down the street when I realized Mackenzie had chewed through the paper and was sucking on the actual tootsie roll. Oops.

10. I can't stop eating the Halloween candy.