There is no doubt that this fall has been one of the busiest seasons of our lives. Between jobs, grad school and the boys' full schedules, we spend a lot of time prepping and planning to make life continue to hum.
Here's a peek at some of what October looked like for us:
We would be lost without our menu plan! Every Saturday morning, I sit down with cookbooks and recipes and any willing helpers to plan the meals for the week. We take into account evening activities and try to plan simple meals for busy weeknights. We also spend a good bit of time prepping food on the weekend; Will is an especially good sous chef!
Sample menu
Simple roasted chicken:
Gene cooks more elaborate meals, like this delicious rabbit pie, on weekends.
Even though we are busy, we try to make time for the things that matter, like game night.
We had some really lovely weekened weather in October, including an early cold front, so we went down to Brazos Bend State Park for a couple of long hikes.
This girl was tuckered out after about 4 miles of hiking.
In mid-October, Henry and I attended Tweens Read, a literary festival just for tweens! We drove down to Pasadena together, but he spent the day with kids from Kinkaid and I spent the day with students from my school. We heard incredible authors, including the brilliant Jason Reynolds, and bought many, many books. It was an amazing day!
After the festival, we went to Gene and Nancy's to celebrate the October birthdays.
Gene
and David!
The following weekend was another gorgeous weekend in southeast Texas, so we headed east to Sheldon Lake State Park. We saw a huge alligator on the side of the road as we entered the park.
There were grasshoppers everywhere!
Nothing makes me as happy as spending time outside.
Lunch
As we left the park, we noticed a box turtle in the middle of the road. I made Gene back up so I could hop out and move it to the side of the road. #savetheturtles
The month ended with Halloween. We made our traditional bloody Mary soup with jack-o'-lantern quesadillas.
Henry dressed up as an alien and Will was a cereal killer (completely his idea and such a hit with the adults!).
