What We’re Eating…

Monday– PF Chang’s– Steven’s parents took Livy and Henry to the zoo for the afternoon, so we met them for dinner afterward. We are seriously addicted to their egg rolls!

Tuesday– pot roast, carrots, mashed potatoes, and rolls

Wednesday- salmon croquettes and Cajun alfredo pasta {recipe from Amy Hannon/ Euna’s Mae’s– I use a one lb plank of fresh salmon just roasted in the oven until done (like 25 mins), then mix with the other ingredients for the croquettes because I am not a fan of the canned salmon most croquette recipes call for.}

Thursday- egg roll in a bowl with fried rice

Friday-Sunday– I think we’ll be having homemade pizza on Friday night, at the ranch on Saturday, and I love doing hot dogs, chili, and Frito pie for Halloween, but I may have to get my people on board with that 😉

What I’m Reminiscing About…

October always makes me think of the best first Halloween costumes ever…

We may try the rest of our lives and never top Livy as a Cabbage Patch Kid, and Henry as Nacho Libre. Gotta love those yarn wigs!

What I’m Loving…

•  We are big fans of Peloton, and I use the app every day for whatever workout I do (bike, bike boot camp, yoga, pilates, and barre are my favorites). Since Steven’s parents were coming to stay for a week and his mom really likes working out, I wanted to get the cage adapters for our bike so that she could use it, too. These adapters are very reasonably priced ($35) and took literally five minutes to install. I like that they can stay installed all the time without interfering with our regular pedal (so we don’t have to swap back and forth), and she said they work well and feel secure. I may end up using them some, just because you never know as a mom of a 3.5 and 1.5 year old when you’ll need to make a quick exit and the clip in shoes definitely do not allow for that, and Steven is actually planning to use them because he doesn’t love how his Peloton shoes fit. So it’s a win all around!
• I LOVE anything dark chocolate, sea salt, and/or caramel, so when I saw these at Target, I thought I would throw in a bag for my pick-up order as a little something to have after dinner to cut my sweet tooth and keep me from wanting full blown dessert every night. Well, three bags, one week, and a gained pound later, these are ADDICTING. But so, so delicious. Just buy with caution because you won’t want to stop!

What I’ve Been Up To…

We ended September and started off October with Steven having a free Thursday morning, so he, Henry, and I went to breakfast after dropping Livy at school.

That weekend we took Steven for his birthday lunch at Pappadeaux and then to the Austin Aquarium for something fun to do! It was basically the equivalent of an aquatic petting zoo, but it had some interesting things, and Livy got to have a mermaid painted on her arm (it was technically face painting, but she didn’t want them anywhere near her face, haha!).

We went that Sunday to the ranch and checked on cows and had way too much fun in the dirt!

Then Tuesday was Daddy’s birthday! Livy helped me pick out his cake at the store after I picked her up from school on Tuesday and she had the most fun taking it to the bakery counter and having them write on it. Henry had his eye on the prize- a piece of cake- but we made him go to bed without any since we knew the sugar would wind him up too much right before bed. Whoops! 😉

Henry had his 18 month well check and he is growing like a weed and healthy as a horse! (And just the cutest and sweetest little boy that ever lived! But I’m biased 😉 )

Steven had to take care of some cow business one Thursday and took Henry with him, so I picked Livy up from school and we went for cupcakes in between school and dance. She’s growing up so fast (too fast!) and it was so sweet to have a little girl time! (also, of all the cupcake flavors, girlfriend picked lemon. Lemon?? I mean, I love lemon, but what three year old does?? It was delicious and she ate it, and let me have some too, so maybe she comes by her lemon love honestly, haha!)

We’ve spent every Saturday morning this month playing soccer! We finally got a few weekends that Daddy didn’t get called in or have to be on call, so he got to go to practice/ the scrimmages and play with her. Steven’s parents got to watch last weekend, and she did so well! She jumped in and stole the ball a few times and scored a goal. We were so proud of her effort! Henry spends the entire hour every Saturday just stuffing his face and sitting in the wagon like a prince. He’s made for soccer bro life, haha!

We’ve also spent a lot of time walking and playing at the park this month, and enjoying the fall weather!

And last weekend, we spent Saturday playing soccer and having lunch at PF Chang’s, and then Sunday checking on the girls at the ranch- our favorite kind of weekend!

What I’ve Been Working On…

Well, it took me a year, but I finally got www.redbanklandandcattle.com up and functionally running! I am far from a professional website designer, so I’m actually pretty proud of how it turned out. Most longhorn breeders use a company called Hired Hand to run their websites so they can link all the pedigrees, but Hired Hand is a little pricy, so I think I’m most proud that I got it all done and running on my own. I’m sure we’ll upgrade and revamp over the years as our herd increases and our operating budget also increases, but I’m excited about how it’s looking for now! (and if you are in the market for some registered Texas longhorns, go check it out!)

What I’m Excited About…

We are rolling in to holiday season! We are already talking about departmental Christmas parties, and preschool Christmas recitals, and all the fun things for the holidays and I am so excited. It’s my favorite time of year! I’m trying to soak up all the good things about this being our last Christmas in this house, and in training, etc. without getting too emotional, but chances are I will sooner rather than later, haha!

What I’m Watching/ Reading…

Well, there’s a Ted Lasso sized hole in our hearts because the latest season is finished and it’ll be a while before we get new episodes. We had the best Friday night routine of putting kids to bed and enjoying the new episode every week for 12 weeks, and there just aren’t any other shows out that are like that right now so it’s a little sad.

I was a little slower on reading this month, and got through 3 books:

• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone– Lori Gottlieb– my college bestie Kerry and I read this together and it was so good! It’s a non-fiction memoir about Lori’s experience as both a therapist and therapy patient. It took me about a section or two to get into, but once I was about halfway through, I flew through the end. It raised some interesting discussion and we’ve talked a lot about some of the points/ characters so it was a good one to read with a friend!
• The Girls in the Stilt House– Kelly Mustian– I read this because Shay and Erica are discussing it on the Bestie Breakdown book club podcast episode coming up, so I thought I would check it out (I get 75% of my book recommendations from Shay’s monthly book reviews anyway). When I first started, I thought this was the poor man’s Where the Crawdads Sing (which, I liked but didn’t love with the red hot passion I feel like most women did), so I was a little indifferent to it. But as I got through it, I started liking it more and more, and ended up liking it a lot more than Where the Crawdads Sing if I’m honest, and as you get further into it, they really don’t have anything in common plot wise, just a general “in the swamp of the South” vibe. Fun random fact– one of the main characters in this is named Annis, which was Steven’s great grandmother’s name, but an otherwise fairly uncommon name. Olivia’s middle name is Anne, which was a complete coincidence, but turned out to be somewhat of a family name we found out after we had picked it.
• Case Histories– Kate Atkinson– so, if I were to say my favorite genre of book, it would be British mysteries (I definitely love British mystery TV shows, too, so catch me watching Midsommer Mysteries for sure). This had everything- 3 seemingly independent mysteries that are all being investigated by one surly British detective. I liked it for the most part, although it was pretty rated R, there were some superfluous details/ storylines I definitely could have done without, and I wanted a little more closure on some of the case endings. But overall I thought it was interesting how all the cases tied together. This is a series, so I may check out the others if they end up at the library.

Next up, Kerry and I are going to buddy read The Starless Sea together, and I’m slowly working my way through The Giver of Stars. I’ve also got The Paper Palace, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and The Unhoneymooners on my holds list so those will be coming up soon hopefully!

What I’m Listening To…

My usual list of podcasts, and I’ve added a few for my kiddos– I love Annie F. Downs, so we are definitely fans of her new show, Mini BFF Podcast! She reads a short Bible story every time and gives the kids a drawing/ coloring prompt related to the story. We have also discovered Julie’s Library, which is a 30ish minute podcast where Julie Andrews and her daughter read a few children’s books, and it’s basically everything I’ve ever wanted. I’m a huge Julie Andrews fan, so Julie Andrews story time?? Definitely sign me up!

What I’m Wearing…

Slowly transitioning into my sweatshirts/ sweaters/ long sleeves and trying to really go slowly and not over do it since it’s still basically in the 90s in the afternoon, haha! But it’s been cooler in the mornings and evenings so it’s like teasingly cool enough to think you need heavier clothes but we really don’t yet. (I would say season wise we are right in between Fake Fall and Second Summer 😉 )

What I’m Doing This Weekend…

We have to do some cleaning at the ranch to get ready for duck season opener coming up, so we are dropping kids at Grammy and Pop Pop’s on Saturday, and heading to do that just us (ranch chores are always a fun date, haha!). Then I think we’re taking the kids to trick-or-treat at Bebe and Pa Wayne’s on Sunday, and maybe the trunk-or-treat at the church where Livy goes to school. We have a pretty sweet family costume that I can’t wait to share!

What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month…

Cooler weather, and Thanksgiving! Plus, duck season opens on November 13, so we are camping at the ranch (Steven, me, Olivia, and probably Steven’s dad), so Livy can experience her first Saturday morning duck opener with Daddy! (Henry gets to stay with Grammy and Pop Pop 😉 )

What Else is New…

We are in this really fun phase with Livy where she is fighting naps. She’s gotten in trouble some at home for making messes in her room when she should be napping, and she has held out a long deep rooted boycott of naps at school. Her teacher sends a note home every school day with a little summary of the day and every. single. day. I get a note that says she didn’t take a nap. Well, one day early this month, we were packing her lunch the night before and we didn’t have room to put in one of the cookies she and I had baked together. So, I off-handedly made her a deal- if Mrs. Katee tells me you take a nap tomorrow, you can have a cookie after dinner. As evidenced by my note home, she BARELY made it- but a deal is a deal… (and she hasn’t taken a nap a single day since then, so this was clearly a cookie driven fluke, haha!)

Dance class had a “fun bun” contest last week for Halloween, and after racking my brain trying to come up with a creative idea, I walked by her Anna leotard in the laundry room one morning and it hit me– Olaf the fun bun. It’s not the cleanest or most impressive thing I’ve ever done, but I’d say it’s a pretty decent Olaf made with three year old hair, haha!

We went yesterday to Livy’s school for their fall carnival and then after school to the pumpkin patch for some pictures and to pick some pumpkins. I think these two pumpkins are the cutest in the patch!

And since Bud and Gran are in town this week, we popped over to the walking trail one night and had Gran snap us a quick family picture for our Christmas card!

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And that about wraps up October! Happy Halloween and Happy November!