it's my girls' world: October 2015

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

What's up, Wednesday?

Oh fall, when did you become so busy!? Life is back to normal after our pretty hectic summer but now it's routine, routine, routine with just a little fun sprinkled in...

Here's what our crew has been up to…

What we're eating?

Monday: Butternut Squash Soup

Tuesday: Turkey Chili

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Some sort of quinoa and a kale salad

Friday: Takeout or dining out!

What I'm reminiscing about?

Honestly, I'm so busy/tired these days, I don't have time to reminisce… maybe the days of a 5:30 pickup at Cassia's old school--- I mean I never picked her up exactly at 5:30 but it wasn't rush, rush like right now for just after three.

What I'm loving?

Soups, candles, my blanket cardigan and my fedora!

What we've been up to?

School, extra curricular (swimming, skating, gymnastics, violin and music), spending time with family and friends over the weekend! And I do a bit of volunteering with both kids' schools just to get in there a bit.

What I'm dreading?

I need to Konmari my house and I don't know if I'll get started anytime soon. It takes a whole day per thing (like my closet)--- how can I do that?!

What I'm working on?

A whole bunch of little stuff with the house, my blog, the kids, their schools, our weekends!

What I'm excited about?

We just booked our winter getaway! SO excited

Yep, Cancun!!!

What I'm watching/reading?

I am reading my Marie Kondo book but very slowly. I'm loving my fall shows like Grey's, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Modern Family, DWTS and Nashville.

What I'm listening to?

Locked Away--- of course!

What I'm wearing?

Blazers, blanket cardigans and scarves…'cause it's getting really chilly!

Got this one sometime ago at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

Oh and big necklaces-- because they're pretty!

What I'm doing this weekend?

On Friday, we're going to take it easy and spend some time as a family. On Saturday for Halloween, we will be going to a friend's house for pizza, drinks and trick or treating. My nephew and brother are also joining us. On Sunday, it's a playdate and another party--- fun times!

What is my favourite Halloween tradition?

A little dinner, some vino, some Trick or Treating, some more vino and then eating some of the kids' candy. Nothing special :-)

Linking up with the lovely Mel, Shay and Shaeffer

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Pumpkin Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins/Loaf

My family is all about the pumpkin stuff! Tis' the season, no? And I'm all about doing my best to keep it healthy. So when I made these somewhat healthy muffins/loaf, I was a very popular mom/aunt/sister in law! My sister in law and her sister in law even thought it was cake. Cake for breakfast…. yes please!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups of pumpkin puree (or a 15 oz can for you Americans who actually have the 15 oz can)

4 bananas

1 cup of vegetable oil

2/3 cups of water

1/2 cup of brown sugar

3 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp of ground cinnamon

1 tsp of ground nutmeg

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1 splash of vanilla

(with the spices, it's all according to preference, right)

1/2 cup to 1 cup of chocolate chips (optional). Raisins/currants would be good too.

1/2 cup of walnuts

Method:

1- Mix all the wet ingredients, the pumpkin and the banana included and the sugar together. I used my Vitamix to get a nice creamy mixture.

2- Mix all the dry ingredients together.

3- Combine them both then add the chocolate chips and nuts. I forgot to take a picture.

4- You can either make 3 loaves but I made muffins for the littles and one loaf.

Grease or use liners for the muffin tins/loaf pan

12 muffins filled 3/4 way up!

and one loaf.

5- Bake muffins for 25 minutes and loaf for about 50 or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Enjoy!

The loaf got cut into before I got to take a picture but it was so yummy!! The banana, pumpkin combination was a beautiful thing!

(truth be told, this pic is from another pumpkin chip recipe/batch. I might have forgotten to take a picture again but it looked very similar!.

Happy Fall, Y'All!!

Linking up with

Kate and Emily for Tasty Tuesday

Kristen for Handmade TuesdaySusan for Love From the Kitchen

and Beth and some other lovely ladies for Tuesday Talk

Monday, October 26, 2015

Fall Foodie Weekending

Because what you do after a juice cleanse is stuff your face, no?!

And just like that it turned into Monday again. My weekends are categorised into two types…. caught up on laundry and not caught up. This was one of those not caught up on laundry weekends….

On Friday, we headed out with D's cousin and his wife to a new tapas restaurant in town. They got two babysitters and the kids had a picnic, movie watching, playing kind of night.

Pre dinner drinks

The tapas was SO good. And we're all foodies… We ordered all but maybe three things off the menu-- smaller menu, not too unhealthy and small portions…. but still!

I went to the market and to run a few errands by myself on Saturday morning. Errands by yourself= mini vacay!

Our local chocolatier had Halloween displays on one side….

And holiday ones on the others.

After swimming class and lunch, we headed to E's Princess Leia Ballerina Party.

My friend Jenn is all about the details….

Even Darth Vadar twirled….

And A LOVED it.

Caramel apples for the party favour--- I'm all about the one good party favour now!!

Jenn also provided matching tutus for the girls.

A was in sugar heaven!!

Saturday night was rainy so we ordered in and played tv catch up.

After a brunch with my old manager (and dear friend) Karyn, our family met friends, my brother and my nephew at a pumpkin patch.

I adore this pic of my sweeties!

Tractor Ride to get ourselves some pumpkins….

A little group shot!

So many pumpkins to choose from--- but so many of them not good at this 11th hour!

These group shots are really tricky with our twisty-turny kids.

BUt this one loves to pose.

With our friends, we then headed for some Japanese/Thai food before calling it a day!

Linking up on this fine day with:

Biana for weekending

Also linking up here

Friday, October 23, 2015

Friday Five!!

Here's a round up of a few of my faves.

1- Well, I've completed my second juice cleanse and it feels good it be done! D really wanted to do one so I did it with him. Three days of tons of juice but nothing else is not easy friends, but it just resets your system and flushes out all the stuff in our bodies. And though it's not easy, it's totally doable. You drink so much, you're not absolutely starving! 6 lbs down (if that's not a fave, I don't know what it) and now back into clean eating!

2- Loving these swing dresses from Old Navy at such a low cost for me, mini me and mini D (I think that A looks like her dad)

We each have at least one! Such a steal and so cute too… wait for a sale though!

3- My kids are all about looking at the sky. The other day Cass told me that the crescent moon is like a smile from God :-) That being said, A told me that the sun looks like pee--- maybe it's the colour!? I don't make these things up, folks!