Playing Catch Up

I've taken a little break from blogging to spend time with family as we said goodbye to my father-in-law early last week. It's been a difficult time for us, but we're incredibly thankful for the extra time we spent with the people we love most in the world.

Now we're back home and trying to get back into the routine of kindergarten, preschool, blogging, errands and play dates while just taking things one day at a time. In this giant game of catch-up, we've managed to squeeze in a few fun activities this week.

We received a sweet little package from our very best friends back in our old state that included these delicious candles. Delicious! The package also included my favorite Cinnabon k-cups, mint chocolate dove squares and a gift card to our favorite date night spot.

We are so thankful for this sweet family- they always make us feel so loved!

 The leaves here are just past peak, so we had to hurry outside on the last warm day for some fall photo fun.

Got a whole lot of these...

 In search of this! I have to admit though, that the goofy picture above is probably my favorite of the bunch.

 The Catfish and I took a nearly five mile walk down the trail near our house. It was an eighty degree late October day, so we couldn't resist.

Pretty sure we found where the American Horror Story clown lives...

 It was a picnic-perfect day, and we took full advantage.

 My little witchy-woman adores this little wooden witch.

She loved posing for pictures in her favorite Halloween shirt (thank you, Auntie M!).

And, after eating SO MUCH restaurant food over the past week, it was nice to get back to some home cooking. We ate as many vegetables as we could get our hands on, and it felt so good to eat something a little healthier.

This is one of my favorite vegetarian meals that my carnivorous husband actually requests! It's a grilled portabella with just about every vegetable around topped with pesto mayo and red onion marmalade. Melted provolone and homemade Italian bread make this my hands-down favorite sandwich.

So yummy.

Recipe coming soon...

I also bought myself this fantastic wine this week.

 I was a little ashamed bringing my 3 year old with me into the liquor store, but they did have a basket of stickers and lollipops for kids, so clearly I'm not the first desperate mom to have done it! Anyway, I have every intention of buying this stuff by the case.

SO.GOOD.

That's all for now- back very soon with some yummy recipes perfect for fall feasting!