On Sunday, Adrian, Ivanna and I hung out with friends. We went to a pumpkin patch and then to one of our friend's houses to paint our pumpkins. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!!
Pumpkin patch fun!
Honestly, painting is one of the best activity you can do with kids. You never get too old to paint. I took a container full of paint, brushes, googly eyes, ribbon, washi tape and aprons. We set it all out on a table and they just painted and painted.
I loved this. I loved the time away from electronics, talking with friends and just being creative!
After the kids were done, they jumped in the pool (this is Florida!) and then my friend Alina and I painted our pumpkins. These are all the finished pumpkins (kids and adults).
Check out my Jack!!
Alina painted a frosted doughnut with sprinkles. How cute is this pumpkin?
One of Alina's daughters is a super talented artist. Here's her take on Starry Night! I could never make something this amazing!!
Pumpkin painting is fun for all and so much easier than carving. Besides, if we would have carved these pumpkins, they would be gross already. Humidity and heat are not a pumpkin's friend!!
Disclosure: I am a Fandango Family blogger and I was compensated for this post. However, all opinions are mine alone!
As we slowly adjust to our crazy school schedules, it's a little harder to find time to spend together just hanging out. Thankfully, there are lots of movies being released into theaters this Fall that should allow us some fun family time! We love going to the movies and try to see every movie as it released. It's our thing and we are really looking forward to seeing all of these!
Up first is Hotel Transylvania 2. We saw this over the weekend and we LOVED it. The whole gang is back in this perfect sequel to Hotel Transylvania! It is funny, goofy and I know your whole family will enjoy it!
PAN, October 9, 2015
This looks like it's going to be amazing. I mean, the trailer is breathtaking, I can't even imagine seeing this in IMAX 3D! PAN is the story of a young Peter Pan, a dashing Captain Hook and Blackbeard the Pirate (played by the incredible Hugh Jackman) and their adventures in Neverland!
Goosebumps October 16, 2015
I have a feeling that they are gong to do right by R.L. Stine with this movie adaptation of the Goosebumps books. I read these books as a kid, my kids are reading them now and really enjoy them. It doesn't seem scary. It seems like the perfect movie for kids this Halloween!
The Peanuts Movie, November 6, 2015
This is the highly anticipated big screen debut of the Peanuts gang! I have been seeing this and other trailers for this movie for months and we are all super excited to watch the movie. My kids have only ever seen, It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown but I grew up with the Peanuts gang and nostalgia definitely kicks in every time I see the trailer!
The Good Dinosaur, November 25, 2015
We have been waiting for this movie for a while now since the release date kept getting pushed back but thankfully this Thanksgiving weekend, we will finally get to watch The Good Dinosaur. This movie is about friendship and loyalty and you know it will be a tearjerker!
WOW! That's a lot of movies to check out! Going to the movies can get expensive so I want to help you out! Thanks to the amazing folks at Fandango, one of you lucky readers can win a $100 gift card to go watch any movie you want! Enter below for your chance to win!
Have you checked out the Fandango Family site lately? They have all sorts of fun stuff just for families such as trailers, crafts, recipes, momREEL kids and the new MOVIECLIPS series! Check it out today!
Tell me: Which movie or movies are you and your family most excited to go watch this fall?
I love meatballs. If we go out to eat and there is a meatball dish on the menu, you can be 100% sure that I will choose it. To me, meatballs are little balls of deliciousness. Adrian also shares my love of meatballs so I make them often for dinner. Last night, I made homemade turkey meatballs and Adrian gobbled them up! Homemade meatballs are so easy to make and can be frozen for a later date! So perfect for busy families like mine!
Homemade Turkey Meatballs
(makes about 25)
Ingredients:
2 lbs ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 egg
1 bunch chopped fresh sage or 1 tbsp dried sage
3 tbsp mesquite smoked barbeque sauce
1/4 cup bread crumbs
splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the turkey, onions, garlic, egg, sage, barbeque sauce, bread crumbs, milk, salt and pepper. Make sure to use your hands, they are going to get dirty shaping meatballs anyway.
With a small scoop, scoop up about 1 tbsp of meat mixture and roll into a meatball with your hands. Place on a ungreased baking sheet.
Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven and serve with pasta or mashed potatoes!
A couple weeks ago we headed out to the Coconut Grove Pumpkin Patch. We have some small local patches but this is the big one that only comes once a year. It sets up for a weekend in October at Peacock Park. We try to go every year and always have a good time. Our pumpkin patches are not like the ones you might be used to. Like I mentioned, they are at a park, not a farm or field. There is only a portion that not under tents (because it's scorching hot) and it's really a marketing free for all.
We did one nice family picture, thanks to Jet Blue, and yes our next big family vacation is to the Bahamas next year!!
Taking a picture of these two is like trying to take a picture of toddlers. They complain, they squirm, they barely smile. This is the best of about 25 that I took of them.
These two sit, pose and smile. One or two pictures and I get what I want.
We tend to do much better when all four are int he picture together.
Picking pumpkins....
There's a big pumpkin decorating tent where you pay $5 per child and they get a mini pumpkin and can decorate it. It's totally worth it to get out of the sun and the kids enjoy the craft time.
Meanwhile, I went on the hunt for an alcoholic beverage, pumpkin beer! Let's face it, I'm not as crafty as JC!
Of course there was an Elsa, because why wouldn't Elsa hang out at the pumpkin patch?
It made her day!
These two are always camera ready!
After pumpkin crafting came the rides. There was a giant slide, swings, a rocking boat and some bouncehouses. The lines were about 45 minutes per ride so the kids chose the slide and the boat.
This might be my favorite picture of the day. The boys were all gung-ho about riding the boat but when it swung high, the brave ones ended up being the girls! Look at Adrian and Gian's faces!
We did have a wonderful time together. One day we will get to go to a proper pumpkin patch with lots of pumpkins and hayrides and apple cider. Maybe next fall!
If there is one thing I love is volunteering in Adrian's classroom. It's a great opportunity to show him that being involved is important. Teachers have lots of fun ideas but with limited time and budget, it makes it hard to get those ideas off the ground. In come the classroom moms. I take every lunch break and day off of work that I can to volunteer in the classroom. I've being doing it for the past two years and it's really so fun. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, another one of the second grade class moms asked if I could come in and help her decorate the classroom doors for Halloween and take fall pictures. I was there the next morning ready to create!
There are 4 second grade classrooms so we decided to have a Mummy Door, a Monster Door, a Frankenstein door and a Dracula door:
This is Adrian's classroom door:
The kids are thrilled with their doors. This even created a rivalry with the first grade classrooms who later decorated their doors as well!
We also took fall pictures of the kids. We asked for donations of fall items from the teachers and other parents and created an adorable setup:
Here's Adrian's pic so you can see how cute they looked. I am currently putting them in decorated frames so the kids can take the pictures home to their parents next week!
I;m already scheduled to be back in the classroom on Halloween for trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving and a "create goo" science experiment!
Do you volunteer in your child's classroom? What fun fall stuff do their teachers have planned?
Happy Friday! Time for another round of Friday Favorites!!! We had a much more laid back week this week. Last week was nuts! We are a family of five this weekend so I'm sure my relaxation will end at about 6:30pm!
I love to link up my Friday Favorites with Andrea, Erika and Narci:
I'm loving the cooler weather we are having this weekend. High 60's in the morning, leading to high 80's in the afternoon! Fall in South Florida!! I'm taking advantage and wearing these super cute boots I bought earlier this year!
I've seen them in various stores but I purchased mine for $24.99 online at Kmart! They are super comfy and perfect with cuffed jeans!
This morning I stopped at Publix to buy some doughnuts for the office, oh how I love doughnuts, and I discovered this rasperry sweet tea in one of the coolers by the cash register. I susually don't drink bottled tea but the granny on the label drew me in! Yup, expect me to be the one that falls for the ads! Anyway, I tried it and loved it. It's so delicious.
Oh and my favorite part? Grannyisms under the label!! We all know how knowledgeable Grannys are so I expect to find some pretty amazing grannyisms soon! Have you tried this tea?
(Please ignore the unmanicured nails!!)
We went out for dinner last night and I took this super cute pic of Adrian and JC. They really do the cutest things and it makes me so proud that they love each other so much!
Have your kids decided on their Halloween costumes yet? Of course, we have no idea what we are going to wear! I'm bummed this year because Amberly and Gian will be out of town with their mom on Halloween so our Star Wars group costume is a no-go again :( Adrian wants to me a mummy or a skeleton (yup, no more cute costumes here!) and I wanted to dress up as a gypsy. I'm trying to get coordinated costumes for me and JC but it's hard this year with his beard! Any ideas?
We don't have any major plans this weekend. I want to finish my outdoor Halloween decorations and just hang out. The weather is supposed to be really beautiful this weekend and I want to take advantage. What are you plans for the weekend?
Hello everyone and let's all yell "YAY! It's Friday!" from the top of our lungs (unless you are at work or near a sleeping baby, then maybe you can whisper!) Of course, this will a post of completely random things that I have not had a chance to write about yet, but that's OK, it's part of the Friday fun!
1. Last weekend we went to the Coconut Grove Pumpkin Patch. As hard as we Floridians try, we can never get that authentic pumpkin patch feel but we do try. Anyway, JetBlue had the cutest setup and we just HAD to take a family picture.
2. The pumpkin patch was the end to one of the most insanely frustrating weekends ever. On Friday night, there was a random lightning storm and lightning struck super close to our house. Do you know what happens when lightning strikes super close? Well, if you don't know, the electricity travels through cable wiring, fries cable boxes and HDMI inputs on your TV's. True story. Can you imagine getting home on Friday night to no TV or cable with 3 kids? Pure insanity! Well since I obviolsy have no idea how to entertain children, we ended up at Brandsmart at 9pm buying a new TV:
Oh and the cable installer didn't come until Sunday afternoon, while we were at the pumpkin patch. Thankfully, my mother stayed home, if not, we would probably still be cable-less! #firstworldproblems
3. After you spend the afternoon forcing your children to pose for pictures using the nice camera, this is what they do when you pull out the cell phone:
I don't blame them! This is one of the best pictures ever!
4. I'm still on the pumpkin-everything kick. Check out my cart at the grocery store:
5. I'm hoping for a much more relaxing weekend. All I have planned is a movie date with Adrian and maybe some costume shopping. We are going to go see the Boxtrolls. Have you seen it yet?
Once again, Happy Friday and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!
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