Halloween and Green Chef

Halloweeeeen! Saturday was so much fun. At about 4 PM we hung out with Allicia and Jeff and kids and we all ate dinner together in the "main house". They had invited some of their family over too, so it was a fun party and we ate spaghetti and eye balls (meatballs with melted cheese and a green olive on top). Here is Guy's plate (which I made and saved for later since he did not get home until 5:30-ish)...

After eating, the kids got into their costumes.  Nico initially wore his Fireman costume, then switched to Ninja Turtles, then switched back. His final choice was Fireman. I think the mask for the Ninja Turtle costume got a little old after a while. After Guy came home from work, he ate quickly and we were off! We met Jeff & Allicia at Roosevelt Market over by where we used to live. We went back to our old neighborhood to see if anyone was around giving out candy, nope! Just one that had a bowl on their front door step.

Nico and Evelyn had fun going door to door,  just like last year.  I got a video of it all but my iMovie has been crashing and I haven't been able to use it, but be assured when I figure it out, I'll be posting the video :) We spent most of our time in the East Boise neighborhood, love love LOVE those streets! We took a brief detour onto Warm Springs so that we could visit the Castle like we did last year, and that's actually the only picture I have of trick or treating! (The rest is video). And look, it's not even a good picture because you can only see a blur of green dinosaur Evelyn on the left, and no Nico. You can see Allicia holding pink bunny Ivy, though.

And a picture of our house with our carved pumpkin on the ground with two battery powered tea lights in it. Nico and I had carved it earlier that day.

We had a wonderful time. When we got home, Nico dumped his candy out on the floor and we traded it straight across for a whole bag of Nico-safe lollipops. The next day we did end up going through all his candy piece by piece and Guy looked each one up online to see if it was gluten & corn free. There were a few! Hershey's bars are OK, Heath bars are OK (not Nico's favorite), and then of course the Yummy Earth lollipops. Oh and Kirkland brand peanut butter cups.

So after we got home from trick-or-treating I ran to the PO Box because I got notice that day that we had some mail. I had been waiting to hear back about the big Aromatherapy exam I took a few weeks back, and I had heard from my classmates that some of them had received their exam scores in the mail that very day. So off I went, and found out that indeed I had passed the exam! I'm officially a Registered Aromatherapist! 

Sunday was a good day. Guy facilitated the Bible Study Sunday night since the leader had family in town and couldn't make it. He did a good job. Just like old times!

Tuesday morning we watched Ivy while Allicia and the other kids went out.

Nico asked to hold her so of course I let him.

We put another quilt on our bed because it's been chilly. Nico enjoys using the lines on the quilt as roads for his cars.

Lately Nico has been putting down his iPad of his own accord and playing with his toys. Sometimes I see bursts of development from him and it is fun to experience. He has been snuggly and loving and I've really been enjoying that.

I think Guy has pretty much adapted to the day-life. He is switching to a Monday-Friday schedule starting next week. 8-5, except on some days he'll go in late and come home at 8 PM so he can stay and train the guy that's training.

We are trying out GreenChef.com. They are an ingredient-delivery service. 3 meals per week, they send you the recipes and ALL the ingredients. Organic, grass fed, grain free (there are several types of meal plans you can choose from). I signed up for it because we got our first week FREE, which is worth about $100. We got the box yesterday and it was packed well and very cold. Beautiful recipe print outs and everything is separated in baggies for you. All you have to do is... chop veggies, and then add ingredients at the proper times. All spices are in little bags and you just dump them in.  Wet ingredients are in cute little jars. Everything is labeled.

Tonight was the first night we did a recipe: Mole Chili. It may have been a fail, we think because the amount of cocoa powder and espresso powder added to it was a little much. Guy says if we try to reproduce the recipe and use LESS of those two things, and use a better espresso powder, it would make a difference. It was very bitter because of the espresso, and it really wasn't appetizing to any of us. The "corn bread" muffins (no corn, made with coconut flour) were very tasty. We added honey on top of them. Making the recipe was a breeze and was so easy. I liked that part.

We have 2 more meals this week, a lebanese fish dish and a chicken egg roll bowl.  Looking forward to those. We are also getting a delivery next Wednesday as well. Two weeks for the price of one :) I am hoping that some of these recipes are good enough for me to repeat on my own!! I needed some new recipe ideas!

Until next week!

p.s. forgot to add that Nico, when going door to door at Halloween, the person would give him some candy and a few times Nico would take the candy, look it over, then hand it back to them and say "I already have this one!" hee hee

The Clubhouse

We moved in on Sunday!

Before the movers got here

After the movers left

Up until that day, we weren't sure where we were going to put everything. But it worked out beautifully. We set up Nico's loft bed and put his mattress underneath it instead of on top. We stacked the cedar chest and some other things on top of the bed and we drape blankets over the rest and it becomes a CAVE. This is where Nico sleeps at night and where Guy sleeps during the day.

The place looks a lot more organized than what you see in the pictures, but it is still a tiny space with lots of stuff in it :) 

I love having a kitchen! Tonight for dinner I made Fish Curry. Both Guy and I agreed that we were getting tired of sandwiches. Nico even ate some of the curry! 

So the only thing we don't have in this room is a bathroom. We use Jeff and Allicia's 2nd bathroom as our own. This has worked out just fine so far. 

I realized after moving into the clubhouse that this is the time we have been planning for, and that we need to take advantage of it starting right now, to start paying off debt. I know that we will only be able to last so long living in a tiny space, so we are not going to fritter away our time! This is serious business, and we are going to get it done. We are people on a mission!

Feeding the chickens grapes

Nico and Evie in the clubhouse

Waiting for the bus last Friday - Halloween Party day! 

Nico says: "Paint a pumpkin red!"

Nico says: "Biiiiig"

At the pumpkin patch, riding the bucket train

He has picked his pumpkin!

Moving Day is Upon Us!

The big news this week is that they finished the clubhouse!

We move in on Sunday. We are trying to get everything in order for when the movers arrive. We are hiring movers because there are 2 flights of stairs that need to be dealt with. They are moving our stuff down one flight, and then the furniture that was up here before needs to be returned up here from the basement, 2 floors down. Movers to the rescue! We hope to move most of the kitchen stuff down before Sunday so that they can just focus on big furniture.

I told Guy that the first meal I'm going to make in my new kitchen is Fish Curry! Then I said "now I just need to find some fish!" The next morning, my Mom called and asked if she could take me to Costco, "just for the halibut" (but some other stuff too). Halibut is exactly what I needed :) Thanks Mom!

I am looking forward to cooking, and to cleaning, and to routine-ing it up. I miss routine. It was nice for a while not having one, almost like a vacation! And I guess the vacation worked, because I am ready and raring to go back. This really WAS like a vacation. Soaker tub with geothermal water, eating off of paper plates, no dishes to wash, making sandwiches every day and eating lots of chips and larabars, so no food prep. I am so grateful!

Guy worked Monday and Tuesday during the day again. He has been very tired, but he is motivated. I am very proud of him.

Tomorrow Nico gets to wear his Halloween costume to school! TIGER.

Carving the pumpkin Nico picked out at the Farmstead pumpkin patch on his field trip.

And lots of pictures this week from the preschool.

 This one doesn't have a lot of Nico in it but I LOVE his face and can hear his reaction to seeing the duck being dropped into the water.

Showing Nico this picture, he told me about the sizes of the pumpkins and how heavy the big pumpkin was.

I love having these pictures so I can ask Nico was he was doing! He told me they made play-doh!

Painting apple trees.

Work, Botanical Garden, and Pumpkin Patch

We found out last Saturday morning that Guy would be going in to work on Monday and Tuesday during the day (10AM-5PM), and then back to night shift on Wednesday like normal. This is how it will be every week for the foreseeable future. So Guy stayed up on Saturday with a short nap in the middle of the day. In the morning he drank some coffee and then all of us, including Allicia, Evie, and Avery, went to the Botanical Garden. Keeping Guy busy while he is tired seems to help with him staying awake. We had a lot of fun!

Then Nico had a field trip this week to the pumpkin patch. I am sure his teacher took lots of pictures so I will be uploading some of those when they're available. Nico came home with a pumpkin and has been asking to turn it into a jack-o-lantern. We told him we would do this with him on Sunday which is Guy's next day off.

The Clubhouse is almost finished, they think it will be ready by the end of this weekend. They put the kitchen cabinets in and the flooring, they just need to do the finishing touches.

Monday was Guy's birthday. To celebrate I made him a video rendition of one of his favorite radio sketches by Bob & Ray. He got a kick out of it.

Nico and Evie doing kid alphabet yoga. Driving Cars.

Reading books in their "house"

A queen bed seems to fit all of us. Nico is a big fan of sleeping next to Daddy.

Late

We took a late trip to the park tonight. I was fooled by the new early darkness, so it was barely 5 PM when dusk started and we arrived to the park after the sun had set.

We were also late in carving our pumpkin, which Nico and I did tonight. There is an iPad app called Tizzy Seasons, and they have a pumpkin you decorate and then you tap the light switch and the pumpkin glows from the inside. So I carved the pumpkin, we decorated the one on the iPad, lit it up, and then I asked Nico if he wanted me to light OUR pumpkin up. He said YES! Well, he said "Dah!" So I put a candle in our pumpkin, lit it, and then turned off all the lights. He was intrigued.