November News

Wow! November has been a big month for us! I am always shocked at how quickly we go from trick or treating to christmas decorating...it just flys by! 

Here is the first bit of exciting news that we are sharing this month.....

We are going to have a baby!! 

This pic freaks me out a little....haha! 

So precious. 14 weeks.

We had our most recent ultrasound earlier this week and had such a great time showing the photos off to our family during the holiday. 

I was SHOCKED at how much the baby moved! It was flipping all around and making it difficult for the tech to get pictures! Later on in the appointment though, the baby chilled out and we got these awesome profile pictures. 

This video is slightly blurry...not sure why. But it was a special moment that I want to share with you.

Baby Brown is the size of a large naval orange this week. Wow!

We are due on May 25th, just a few days after my bday. 

My latest concern is how I'm going to plant a garden being super hugely pregnant!?! I may just have to put my boys to work, while I sip ice water and recline on the porch. 

Other big news this week.....My K-man turned 9 years old!! WHAT?!?! How did that happen????

We had a lego themed birthday party...go figure. My child has loved legos for so many years now, it just seemed appropriate. 

We were lucky enough that the community building (right down the street from our house) was available that evening! I didn't have to clean my house...woot woot!

A friend of mine made this awesome cake! 

Cassandra loving on some collos pizza!

Time to sing!!!

This cake was super heavy!

The birthday boy in his lego shirt I made hugging the lego man. 

So silly!

Aunt KK and Baby L

The grandmothers!

Theres the shirt. The back has a lego man head with K-mans name and the front is a lego yoda saying "9 you must be!"

He read every card. 

Snow globe from his bff cousin KB. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Aunt C was such a big help. I was slightly exhausted by this point. Just. want. to sit.

Lego tower competition! 

Uncle Z is the best!

Here are some of the decoration photos I took before people arrived.....

Lego man head pops, lego waters, lego head straws, lego head cups, polka dot plates and napkins....

I made the bunting with lego font and red construction paper. 

The tables......I even put some legos at the adults tables so we would have something to play with!

Dot candies...

I wanted the lego candy, but lo and behold, when I drove the 20 minutes to the candy shop, to spend a stupid amount of money on stupid lego candy.....they were completely out! Lame. These tasted better anyways!

The kids had a creation table all to themselves. They had a great time building and creating. 

Another bunting.

Favors for the kids. Coloring books, bubbles, playdough. Also off the the right, we had a guesstimation station. 

Some of the family and friends enjoying food. 

Z and his Dad solving world problems....

My brother and sis being so silly.

The moms! 

Can you find the lego head?

Later on this week we had thanksgiving!!! 

It was so good!

Lots of family and amazing food. 

This is the only photo I got the whole day! 

Over all, it was a wonderful (yet busy) month!! 

I can't wait to start decorating for christmas!!!!!

Pickled~French Breakfast Radishes

Yesterday morning, I harvested the last of the produce from the main garden. 

The deer had gotten in and eaten the tops off of my carrots, but I was still about to find and pull them. They look great! I will freeze them for later use in soups and such. 

The radishes are another story.....remind me why I planted these?

I don't even like them. 

But the hubby does, and I like pickled things so I looked up this recipe and gave it a shot. 

First was washing them really good. Root vegetables sometimes make me nervous with all that dirt. 

Then, I sliced these babies up very thinly and packed them into a pint sized jar. 

All the while, I had this brine simmering on the stove. Some sugar and salt, water and vinegar, garlic, peppercorns, and dried cayenne pepper. 

Lastly, I ladled the brine mix (making sure to get the garlic and pepper) into and over the radishes. 

Aren't these gorgeous!?

I have to wait 24 hours before testing them....the recipes says they would be good on sandwiches in place of dill pickles.........but you know how I love my pickles, so this is a stretch for me. I guess I'll just have to wait and see! 

Now for the rest of the radishes...any good recipes out there I should try?

On another note: K-mans birthday is coming up! Here is a sneak peak of the theme this year. Can you guess it?!?

TT&J Giveaway!

To get an extra chance to win, I am sharing this giveaway with my readers! (all 5 of you=).


Tater Tots & Jello, my new fav blog, is giving away a $100 gift card to lowes! I know I could use this for our projects at Brown Acre!

Enter to win!

Jewelry Box Re-fashion

No before and after pics.....sigh.

Just the after. I'm sorry.

But what a beautiful after it is!!

I made this gem for my dear bestie BB Toble's birthday ( Nicknamed sweetly).

It it totally a late gift as her bday was several weeks ago, but this project took forever and with my busy schedule, football, and some sick days in there, I just couldn't get it done!

She started off as an ugly, slightly broken veneered jewelry box in an awful brown stained color.
Hardware was disgustingly brassy.

Anyways, Here she is completed. I am in love.

I used a wallpaper sample and covered the inside lid to add a pop of color when opened.

I painted the exterior with a plum purple (her bedroom has a deep purple accent wall) and spray painted the brassy knobs a grassy green.

I roughed up all edges and sanded down every surface for a more aged look. And to show off the details I did like. 

Of course, I had to fill the box with some bables, now didn't I?!?

Yea, I made all those too.

Love ya, BB! Happy Belated Birthday!

  

Linked up to

Pumpkin Glorious-ness!

I've been dealing with pumpkins today. Its been on my to do list, and I actually had a Saturday with nothing else huge planned, and no where else to be. 

Woot Woot! 

I really got some stuff done! 

Here are a few shots from my pumpkin goodness. 

These baby sweet pumpkins grew in our gardens this year. So cute and delish. 

This picture shows me separating the seeds from the pulp. I also cut each pumpkin in half for roasting.

I did the seeds first, as I knew they would take the longest. I rinsed them and threw them into a pot, covered it with water, dumped in some salt and set the pot on to boil. Once boiling, I set the timer for 10 minutes. 

After ten minutes, these morsels were ready to dry. So I got out my trusty paper towel roll and evenly spread out the seeds. They dried for about 10 minutes (only because I had some other things going on and they just had to wait on me!!)

Next comes the seasonings! I used 4 T. of melted butter, 2 t. of seasoning salt (I used natures seasoning), and 1 T. of Worcestershire sauce. Mixed it up real good.  

Spread out on pans. The seeds on the left came from store bought carving pumpkins and are a little larger. The ones on the right are my baby pumpkins from the garden. 

Pop them into the oven at 250 degrees for 1-2 hours. I stir mine every 15-30 minutes to ensure even drying. 

When they stop looking "wet" and look nice and toasted, they are done!!

Now, try not to eat them all in one setting!

I also wanted to make some pumpkin puree for some recipes and pies so I roasted the halves as well today. Cut in half, brushed on the pulp side with butter (generously) and stuck in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until a fork easily stick through the skins. 

Here they are after the fact. Nice and toasted looking.  You can even see my fork pricks in the bottom left one! 

Because I don't have a third hand, I couldn't take pictures of the next part. I peeled the skins off each side of pumpkin. Some sides I had to scrape with a spoon, others the skin fell right off.  I stuck the pulp from two sides into the food processor and blended it all up! You could use an emersion blender, a regular blender, or a food mill for this as well. 

The pic on the right shows the purty puree!

So what am I doing with this puree!?!? Freezing most of it for later use.....but one cup went towards these lovely!

Oh. My. Word. 

So good. Can't stop eating them. 

Here is the recipe. 

Also, Ms. Mavis Butterfield helped me out with how to make pumpkin pie spice.......

As for the larger pumpkins, they were decorated in great suspense for the greatest night in the history of  candy ever. In the words of K-man.