Reese Turns Two! (almost)

Little Miss Reese had her birthday party this weekend and it was so much fun. Sarah did a beautiful job with all the pink and green details, she even made Reese's outfit to match! The highlight was when Grandma Reichert (Sarah's Mom) brought out a bunch of instruments for the kids to play. Todd would say the highlight was the cupcakes (he ate 5!).

Bathtime Singing

Performing a melody of some of her favorite "show tunes": The ABC's, Old Mac Donald, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Wheels on the Bus, Dem' Bones and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Halloween Week II

We started off the weekend with more Halloween festivities. We went over to our friends the Jarchow's for their annual Pumpkin Carving Party.

All the kiddo's having dinner

Princess Serena

Pretty Kaya

The Jarchow Family (Max, Mimi, Mason and Martin)

My pretty princess carving a pumpkin with Daddy

Samantha and Jak

Todd takes pumpkin carving very seriously

Pumpkin #1

Pumpkin #2

All the pumpkins

Then on actual Halloween we headed to the Paskins (check out their blog to see the fun treats Sarah made). It was so much fun taking the kids trick-or-treating.

Gwendolyn, Connor, Reese, Sam and Bella

Mr. Incredible, Baby Dragon and Pumpkin Lady (The Stone Family)

The Bee Keeper and the Bee Hive (The Delios)

After we got home from the Paskins we got hit with a ton of trick-or-treaters. We weren't really sure if we would get any since we did not live in this area last year and we thought we would be gone most of the evening. I only bought one bag of candy and boy was that a mistake. We had to start giving away the candy that Samantha had collected earlier! As you can see from the video, Samantha was fine with the 6 or so pieces she ended up with. She kept counting them over and over.

Black Bean Lasagna Rolls

I always find it odd when a dish looks one way but taste like another. This recipe is exactly that but it works! The lasagna noodles and ricotta cheese give it the classic Italian lasanga look but adding in green chiles, black beans and some spices gives it a Mexican twist. And instead of tomato sauce you use salsa. Garnish with some cilantro and you have Mexican Lasagna!

From the All-New Complete Step-by-Step Diabetic (I googled "Healthy and Vegetarian" and this is what I got, totally random!)

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 roll)

Ingredients
8 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese
1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups drained canned no-salt-added black beans
Cooking spray
1 (15 1/2-ounce) jar no-salt-added salsa
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain well.

Combine cheeses and next 3 ingredients, stirring well. Spread cheese mixture over 1 side of each noodle. Spoon black beans evenly over cheese mixture. Roll up noodles, jelly-roll fashion, beginning at narrow ends.

Place lasagna rolls, seam sides down, in an 11- x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

To serve, spoon salsa evenly over rolls, and garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

The Halloween Festivities Have Begun

We are still several days away from actual Halloween but Samantha has gotten a lot of wear out of her costume so far. Dancing Grandma bought her the cutest Ladybug outfit.

On Saturday Dancing Grandma and Papa Ward picked Samantha up and took her down to their house for an overnight trip. Samantha couldn't wait to get in the car and spend time with her grandparents. They went swimming, visited the museum and even hit up a Halloween party (Samantha wasn't quite ready to wear her full costume yet).

On Sunday we went to the PEP Rockin' Halloween event at the Stowe House. PEP is an organization that I volunteer for and I must say that everyone involved did a fabulous job. We were even able to get part of Samantha's costume on. There was face painting (you can see the very talented Sarah hard at work painting faces in the picture below), trampolines, dancing and lots of fun activities.



And then today we went to Oliver's Halloween Party. Oliver is one of Samantha's friends from the music class we used to go to. Oliver's backyard is amazing and you can imagine Samantha's delight when she spotted both a trampoline and a bounce house.

Samantha and her buddy William

All the kiddos in their costumes (it was impossible to get them all to look at the camera)

Astronaut Oliver and Samantha trying to break the pinata

Samantha and her Ladybug friend Ava

She Can Dance Too

Samantha is going to be a Ladybug for Halloween. Getting Samantha dressed in regular clothes each day can be a battle so I am not surprised that we haven't succeeded in getting her Halloween costume on.

The base of her outfit is a black leotard and tights. I bought the smallest size I could find and the poor thing is swimming in her leotard and tights but she sure looks cute. I can't wait to put her in dance lessons.

She is showing signs that she has some talent (I know that Dancing Grandma is just beaming with pride as she watches this video):

**** We need to work on her "Mommy Dance".

The Little Singer

Samantha has become quite the singer lately. She is mesmerized by this kid's sing-a-long DVD that I got her. She loves to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the "Wheels on the Bus". When I try and sing along with her she says, "No Mommy, NO! Samantha do it!" She's a little diva already!

Here she is singing a few lines from "Old Mac Donald" and "This Old Man" (even though the "Hokey Pokey" is playing in the background).