"Pumpkin Patch"

I had great intentions of taking Hudson over to the Arboretum after reading Casey's post. We planned to go on Saturday and get all sorts of cute pictures that I could ooooh and aaaah over. Huh. That didn't work out very well. We were told by some friends that we were insane to try and go Halloween weekend. They said there would be THOUSANDS of people and it would be a complete madhouse. So........we didn't go. And I'm so disappointed. I'm hoping we can get over there in a couple of weeks. Surely they'll keep the pumpkins and mums up through Thanksgiving????? I hope so!

Our alternative plan was to find a pumpkin patch close by and take some pics. Well...easier said than done! Our town just doesn't have a cute pumpkin patch (at least that I know of). We finally found a ghetto one by our house and took some pics. Hudson was in a very mellow mood on Saturday and would barely crack a smile for the camera. He was much more interested in looking at the pumpkins. Anne, a good family friend was in town and took lots of pictures as well. She's going to mail me the CD and I'm hoping she got some really good ones. The pictures below are the ones my mom and I took with my camera.

Halloween 2009

We went to a Halloween party on Tuesday night and it was lots of fun! A bunch of our friends were there and Hudson got to see all kinds of costumes. They had a costume contest, lots of fun foods, arts and crafts for the kids, a D.J. and of course, adult beverages for us! :) Hudson was a lion this year and I have to say....he DID NOT LIKE IT! He screamed almost the whole time we had his "head" on. So, it lasted for about 5 minutes and then we had to take it off. Here are some lovely pictures of my screaming lion........

Meltdown.....

Just plain mad....

cute little butterfly, Emery!

Love this face! McKenzie was a
Princess Pirate...

Yummy Soup!!!

As soon as it gets even slightly chilly around here, I'm ready for soups and stews and all of that yummy comfort food! So........tonight I decided to make a soup. Except I had no idea what I was going to make. We had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge and some other stuff, so I whipped this up and it turned out to be sooooooooooo good! Seriously. You've got to try it. I call it a chicken posole and it only took about 25-30 minutes to make. It's really just like a tortilla soup, I guess. Except I added hominy and maybe some different spices??

Here's the recipe. Let me know if you like it and if you don't like it??? Well, you're just weird.

1 Rotisserie Chicken (breasts only) or 2 chicken breasts, fully cooked
1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, chopped
1 red pepper (I had small peppers, so I did red and orange), chopped
1 jalepeno, seeds removed and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1-2 Tblsp. Flour (depending on how thick you want it. I wanted mine more like broth so I only did 1 Tblsp)
16 oz. can of hominy
Chicken Stock
Chicken Broth
Olive Oil - about a tablespoon
Tortilla Chips, crushed
Lime juice (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)
Cheese (optional)
Chopped Cilantro (optional)
Avocado Slices (optional)


In a large pot, add your EVOO, onion and pepper over medium/high heat. Saute for 3-4 minutes until the veggies get tender. Add in your jalepeno and garlic. Continue to cook for about 2 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and coriander. Add flour and cook for another minute or so. Add in 1/2 box of your chicken STOCK and the entire box of your chicken BROTH. Continue stirring or whisking as you pour. Bring to a boil. Add hominy and chicken. Lower heat to medium/low and cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Hubby topped his soup with everything: lime juice, sour cream, cheese, cilantro, avocado and chips. I opted out of the sour cream and avocado (I know, strange!).....it was still delish!

Ingredients:

Finished Product~

Random Pics - Catch Up

Okay- so I finally went and bought a card reader and uploaded a TON of pictures. You'll have to go back through the blog to find specific posts from earlier this month (I didn't want to get out of order). Yes, I'm organized like that! :) Anyway- here are some pictures of Mr. Hudson from the last few weeks. I can't believe how fast he's growing!!!

Jennifer's Visit

**Jennifer - you made the blog!!! ** :)

One of my good friends made a visit home this week from L.A. She hadn't seen Hudson since May, so she was pretty surprised at how big he had gotten. Trey kept Hudson while Mags, Jennifer and I went out to dinner. We went to Lilli's and it was fabulous! It was fun to catch up with Jennifer and I'm so glad she got to see Hudson!

Nope...no Hudson pictures yet

So, since I have yet to find my camera cord (yes, Anthony I'm going to get one TODAY!), I'm going to join in on the Wish List fun at Vintage Junky. What a great idea! And a perfect way to get my Christmas list out there for the fam to see (hint-hint)!!

Almost everything on this list is home related because I NEED to get my house finished! So, here goes:

I think this rug from Anthropologie would look so cute in the middle of Hudson's room. He has chocolate brown striped walls and this would add some color and look great on the seagrass flooring!

And, I love this console table. It would go fabulous in my entryway!!

Trey, his mom and I bought a house a couple of years ago in our old neighborhood. We remodeled it and had planned to flip it, but then his mom decided that she loved the house and ended up buying it! Anyway- we took the old garage door off of that house and we've had it ever since. My mom had the idea that we should make a table out of the garage door (obviously, we'll have to scale it down a bit). Anyway- that's the plan for a kitchen table and I think these chairs would look great with the table and some cute cushions. Then I have a bench to go on one side of it too! So cute.

The next few things are obviously for me, myself and I. Love this shirt from J.Crew. Wouldn't this be cute with some black pants and funky shoes??? Great for going out on the town! (ha-since I get to do that so much!)

And I love these items from Stella&Dot. A friend of mine is hosting a show at her house in a couple of weeks and I may just have to buy these things myself!

I think this necklace is so cute. I would add an "h" charm to it as well for my sweet boy, Hudson!

And last but not least, since I love cooking and started collecting Le Creuset......these are some items that I want and the colors!

And there you have it! Of course there's tons and tons of other stuff that I'd love to have, but these are just a few items. And yes, I know that some of these aren't realistic to ask for on a Christmas list (aka...chairs, table, etc..), but they're still things that I wish for!! Happy Hump Day to everyone!

It's raining here A-GAIN.........

Family Weekend

All of Trey's family was in town this weekend and we had lots of fun! Everyone came over to our house to watch the Texas/OU game on SAT morning. It was great to get everyone together and the kids had a lot of fun! Especially Hudson and Grace! They loved playing together. We tried to get a good picture of all the cousins together, but it proved to be a little difficult! :)

Maggie's Party - Tech vs. Nebraska

Maggie recently bought a new house and decided to have a little Texas Tech watching party this weekend. It was lots of fun and I dressed Hudson up in his red Texas Tech overalls. He was the hit of the party! Her new house has a rooftop patio, so she set up a TV outside and we all got to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and watch our beloved Red Raiders play ball!

My mom & Hudson

Ashley & Hudson

Me, Mags, Emily & Suzi

Rain, Rain, Go away............

Seriously?? Do we live in Seattle now???? I've officially had it with all of this rain. Yes, I know that we were begging for rain about 2 months ago, but now we've gotten plenty and I haven't had a good hair day in about 2 weeks. GO AWAY! We need some sunshine now.

I've heard that the sun is supposed to make an appearance for the weekend...which is good because it's TEXAS/OU weekend here in DFW. My mother-in-law is a Sooner, but we don't hold that against her. However, I'm sure we will have to endure hearing Boomer Sooner several times on Saturday. I'm not sure which is worse.....the boomer sooner song or having to watch McCoy and Shipley do their best buddies routine.  Who do you think will win this year's Red River Showdown?

Hubby's whole family will be in town for the big event (Trey hates when I call him Hubby). We're not going to the game. We're just having everyone over to our house to watch the game out on the deck. Luckily, it starts at 11am and the Tech game doesn't come on until 2.30pm. So.....we've definitely got a full day of college football on Saturday. I can't wait! The Red Raiders have a tough game and it will be interesting to see how we look up against Nebraska. Not to mention it's IN Lincoln. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that Leach plays Sheffield again this week!

And.....................................
In case you're wondering why there haven't been any pictures of Hudson recently, it's because I have somehow lost  misplaced the cord that connects our camera to the computer! So, yes I have tons of pictures that need to make their way on to the blog, but I have no way to do it. Very frustrating! Be on the look out for some back blogging once I actually find the cord or get a new one.

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

My Birthday!

Ugh.....am I really 34 years old??? I don't feel that old and I guess that's all that matters, right?!?!? I had a great birthday this year! It was on a Sunday, so I woke up to "breakfast in bed" and something I RARELY eat, but just happens to be one of my favorite things. An apple fritter (and donut holes)!!! Yum! After breakfast, Trey and Hudson gave me my present (that was also from Anthony). A new Marc Jacobs bag and I love it!!!! I've been "needing" a new bag and this one is perfect because it's very large, so I can fit Hudson's neccessities in it as well. I'm pretty sure that Trey had some help with this bag and I'm told that wine is the newest fall color for bags...really???? Hmmm....

Trey bought tickets to the U2 concert (which was the next night) and my sister-in-law (Sheila) and brother-in-law (Brent) came into town to go with us. Brent is a huge U2 fan!! You can see how anxious he is for the concert to start in the picture below. He made me laugh throughout the concert b/c he would get soooo excited with each song they played. We met some friends down at the Omni Hotel and had drinks before the concert. It was so much fun and the concert was incredible! Loved it!! The stage was amazing. They had this huge 360 degree screen and it separated halfway thru the concert to make a crazy light show. It was really cool!

We also had a family dinner at my parents house because my Dad and I have the same birthday! Mom cooked up her delicious Olive Chicken and Gnocchi (can you tell we're Italian???). It was sooooo good. She also got my favorite carrot cake for dessert! Austin gave me the cutest flower pot with our address painted on it and some fall mums! And my parents gave me tons and tons of picture frames to do Hudson pictures all the way up my stairway. I can't wait to get this done! Trey's parents gave me some cash and a bottle of wine.......2 things I can never get enough of!! :) ha!

Happy Birthday to Dad and me....it was a great one! Thanks everyone!