I don't know why..

Around the holidays I eat horribly! Usually I don't crave goodies like cookies and fatty foods, but when winter time comes around I can't keep my hands off it! It's so bad. Looks like I need to do couch to 5k again to make it through the New Years. Sometimes I miss being pregnant and getting to indulge more often without feeling guilty about it!

Here is my current enemy.

darn you Starbucks for your delicious peppermint white mocha latte!!!! It doesn't matter that I get you in non-fat and light whip, because I'm practically buying you every time I leave the house! I'm too weak to deny myself your pepperminty-sweet-yumminess...

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving is coming around the corner and we're hosting dinner at our house for the first time. I've cooked a turkey before but never hosted at my own house (my friends have alway had me lug it over to their place). This year Matt's required to invite all the single soldiers over to our home for the holidays, so no soldier has to spend the holidays in the barracks. A few of my friends and their families are coming too, so hopefully there will be a good turn out. I'm really hoping only to have to make a turkey because my refrigerator is small and I only have one oven, so fingers crossed that no one has to flake :)

this is exactly how I cook a turkey. I seriously love Alton Brown and his show "Good Eats", he's like the Bill Nye the Science guy of food.

Halloween

Halloween.. Halloween... I have never really appreciated you much.

My husband is a Halloween fanatic. He totally goes hog wild for Halloween. I'll never understand what is really that great about this holiday, but I decided to put a full effort into trying to embrace it this year.

We went to the pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween. Madison loved every second of it. It was a such a beautiful day. Madison really got a kick out of the small petting zoo they had at Aloun Farms. Her favorite part was the bunnies and the chicken. I was so surprised that the chickens let me pet them. I grew up in Elverta and I always thought chickens were, well... chicken, and usually scared of people, but not these chickens.

When we went into the actual patch of pumpkins, though dry, there was actually a great selection to choose from. Madison squirmed out of our arms and ran for the pumpkins, then decided she wanted to sit on as many of them as possible. Don't ask me why, but I think she thought they made great seats. After I picked my pumpkin I mostly had fun picture taking and chasing Madison through the pumpkin patch, while Matt was on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin. During Madison's mission to sit on every pumpkin, she missed a pumpkin and sat in a patch of thistles and Matt had to pick them out of her butt, it was the funniest thing ever. At that point I gave up on trying to keep her clean and let her get as dirty as she wanted. There was a lot of Hawaiian red dirt at that farm and it was windy, so it was all over everyone. They even had a "slippah" washing station near the stands where you pay for the pumpkins for all us flip flop wearing people who came that day.

We had also planned to go to the haunted plantation which is a big attraction to Oahu during Halloween, along with the haunted lagoons. Sadly, that didn't happen because I came down with a horrible case of bronchitis. Even though I felt awful I decided to just tough it out because I was determined to enjoy this Holiday for Matt and Madison's sake.

We carved pumpkins. Matt was so excited to carve his pumpkin that he actually cheated and got a head start on his pumpkin while I was sleeping in/recovering from my bronchitis the morning before Halloween. His punishment was to help Madison with her pumpkin while I caught up carving mine. Madison was not digging the pumpkin carving experience. She was completely grossed out by the pumpkin guts and cried when we tried to encourage her to put her hand inside. I think she preferred to watch Matt do most of the work. I have a feeling she likes pumpkins better as seats than as jack-o-lanterns.

Finally the day we all anticipated came. Halloween. I woke up feeling like death, Bronchitis still hitting me hard but I didn't care. Matt was excited and it had Madison wired. We had to run a few errands before the trick-or-treaters came so Matt threw Madison's sheep costume on and we went to the store. When we got back we only had about an hour to get ready for the kids to start ringing our doorbell. I threw on my costume (my first one in years) while giddy Matt put on his terrifying costume and added a few finishing touches on the house. Madison was absolutely horrified by Matt's costume, which had me all flustered. She would not let go of my legs when she first saw him. I could hardly walk anywhere. She was pretty much hysterical, and I was irritated, but I let Matt have his fun regardless of my screaming sheep. I decided to take her trick or treating to get her mind off of Matt's hideous zombie costume, which was not a good idea because it seemed like everyone's dad in the neighborhood had an over the top scary costume on. I think it was a little too overwhelming for Madison because she wouldn't even walk for me. She was too nervous, so I had to get her pink buggy out. I'll admit, a fluffy sheep in a pink car buggy was the most adorable thing I've seen all year, but I was ready to be done with Halloween.

We went down our block collecting candy and letting all the mommies "aww" over Madison's getup. After that we decided to go home and watch some Halloween cartoon specials on Nick Jr, while daddy had fun scaring the crap out of the neighborhood children (and a few of their parents). I'm a good mom, so I made sure to taste test all of Madison's candy before giving her any. It's a risky job, but I decided to make the sacrifice. The rest of the night went smoothly, our pumpkins were only knocked over a few times by kids running away frantically from my zombie husband. Next year I'll know what to expect and make better preparations for Madison.. but for now it's on to much better Holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas :)