Fancy Dinner Night and No Overtime Week!

I have a bad habit of working more than I should... Lately, I've  been putting in a ton of overtime and that's not good for anyone, especially my poor family. So this week I have resolved to go cold turkey and leave my laptop at work. It feels good to focus on the house and family again.

Tonight, we made a pretty fancy dinner that, while not the greatest thing we've ever made, used up a ton of veggies that needed used. Yesterday I made a chorizo and apple risotto that that I stuffed into acorn squash halves. Shawn popped them into the oven when he gothome. While they were baking, I braised kale with a little onion and bacon, and then sauteed carrots with fresh fennel and an orange honey glaze. We've never eaten fresh fennel before -- it is a very unique flavor, like black licorice. I do not like black licorice... but i didn't mind the fennel when it was with the carrots and citrus flavors. I had to look up how to cut it because I didn't know which part you even ate... You eat the bulb. I saved the leafy tops for future stocks.

None of us were crazy about the chorizo stuffing because chorizo has a really funky seasoning in it that I don't care for -- almost like cloves or something. But we all ate it and agreed that the stuffed squash with a different stuffing is a great way to at those. I was very proud of the boys for eating all of their kale and carrot sides, and five big bites of their squash and risotto stuffing. We also polished off a parisian baquette from Gateway Market -- they have the best artisan breads in town!

Let's see, what else is happening. We trick-or-treated at Aunt Jean and Uncle Doug's last Thursday night. We had great weather and Aunt Jean fixed us an amazing feast of homemade chili, BBQ wings, cinnamon rolls, pigs in a blanket, cheese and crackers and all kinds of awesome snacks. We had a great time, even though Bo got stage fright and was too shy to go to any houses and Violet decided she didn't want to wear her costume or go trick or treating. Mazy had a good time!

On Halloween, the kids were excited because the Great Pumpkin visited us after school/work. He left a trail of clues in the yard that they had to solve to find their gifts. The Great Pumpkin's annual visit has become one of my favorite Halloween traditions.

Last Saturday, I went to a scrapbooking retreat with mom, Heidi, sister-in-law Keri and her mom Kristi. I was there from 8:30 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. I made three albums -- one for each kid for a Christmas present. It was during that event when I was having so muuch fun working on a hobby and being creative that I knew I had to stop working so much and start enjoying life again.

And that's about it. Let's see what photos I can find:

The kids Celebrating Getting Halloween Cards And money from Aunt Cindy

With their Great Pumpkin gifts

The Boys Finding Their Final Clue

Reading Clues

Finding a pumpkin and clue from the Great Pumpkin

Teamwork!

Some of Shawn's Newest Pumpkin Designs: Alien From The Alien movie On The left (For Mazy) and Slimer from the movie Ghostbusters (For Bo)

 Trick Or Treating With The Cousins at Aunt Jean And Uncle Doug's

Some Of Aunt Jean's Cool Decorations!

Mazy And His cousin Theron

Hudson with the Skeleton Dogs!

Well that's it from me. Have a great week and I'll keep you posted on my no-overtime resolution!