Singing Charlie

This is what Patrick and I endured for a good portion of our ride from Spicewood to Dallas. Cute for 5 minutes... but for 2 hrs? Maybe not.

OKC

The weekend before Thanksgiving was the one weekend of the year that Patrick would be out of town. (He was in a wedding in Bainbridge, GA.... aka: his "guys" weekend.) So, Charles and I decided to go visit the Leclercq's. We hadn't been there since mid summer when they had just moved into their new house. This time around it was like walking into a larger, much cleaner house. It's amazing what paint will do! Julie had a list of projects for us to work on which included painting some rooms, making a chandelier, making a wreath and rearranging objects in the house. In between all of that we took the kids to the park and on some shopping expeditions. I only got a few pics...

Thankswigging

Every year my TCU friends and their families get together for "Thankswigging". We originally started it about 5 years ago and all wore wigs for the big event. This year not one person showed up in a wig... I think we should pass it along to the kids to wear wigs every year. This year was at our friends, the Horsch's, gorgeous new casa. Instead of cooking our traditional turkey and sides, we grilled steaks, had some roasted winter veggies and other various sides and drank some yummy wine. (The wine somehow always makes its way to the table no matter what we are celebrating.) I did a sub-par effort of getting pics of all the kids...
Jack (4 yrs)

Sam (2.5 yrs)

Lauren (15 mths.)

Oliver (9 mths- right A?)

Nathan (2.5 yrs)

Charlie (20 mths.)

I LOVE this tradition we have with our friends. It marks the beginning of the holiday season and I look forward to it year around!

Happy Birthday Patrick!

Yesterday was Patrick's birthday. Since it was Veteran's Day and he works at a bank, he got the day off! And, since I never work on Thursdays we got to spend the day together. We started off the day going to Taco Joint for yummy breakfast tacos. (Best in Dallas if you ask me.) We took Charlie to daycare and went to work out at the YMCA. And then, we did something we never get to do, and went and watched a movie in the middle of the day! "Due Date" was the movie that the birthday boy wanted to see... pretty funny I must say. We split up for the afternoon. Patrick went to get his friend, Asa, from the airport. I met up with Jessica and Johnette at the Arboretum to celebrate Olivia's 2nd birthday. (Happy Birthday Olivia!!) For dinner, we went to Picasso's as a family. This is also something we never get to do ionce Patrick usually doesn't get home from work until 7ish, which happens to be Charlie's bed time. Such a fun day! Here are pics of Charlie helping Patrick with his birthday gifts:

I hope Patrick had as much fun as I did celebrating his birthday! We love you babe!

Added

I've added some things to the blog...

Patrick and I had a full day of cooking yesterday since we had just received our first CSA box. There are too many recipes to write out, so I have started a list on the right side of the page called "What's Cookin' at the Allen's?". This is for my benifit as well as yours as I often look a recipe up on the internet and quickly forget where they came from. All of the recipes are linked to the website I found them on.

I have also added a "Label" section. I have labeled some of my blog entries, but seriously need to be better about it.

CSA

We joined a CSA a few months ago and have been patiently waiting on our first harvest. Today was the day!! First off, this is the CSA we joined: Eden's Organic Garden Center. And THIS is something they were just involved in. (Sounds pretty awesome, right? Anyone who wants to go next year just let me know!) We toured it first to meet the owner and to see where our food would actually be coming from. It's in Balch Springs, which is actually where I work. (It's on the same street as my school even.) But, she delivers to The Green Spot every Saturday, so that is more convenient for us to pick up at.

Anywho... today we received this HUGE squash,
(have you ever seen anything so big?) eggplant, peppers (3 different kinds), mustard greens, mizuna, and sweet potatoes. Tonight we made this for dinner:
Sauteed Mizuna and Orecchiette
3/4 pounds dry orecchiette (ear-shaped)pasta or pasta twists
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound mizuna, bare stem ends trimmed off and yellow or bruised leaves discarded,coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed dry hot red chilies
About 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

In a 6- to 8-quart pan on high heat, bring about 4 quarts water to boiling. Add pasta and cook, uncovered, just until tender to bite, 6 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, place a 5- to 6-quart pan over high heat and add oil. When oil is hot, add mizuna. Stir until leaves are wilted, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain pasta well and pour into a warm, wide bowl. Add mizuna and lift pasta with 2 forks to mix. Sprinkle with chilies and parmesan cheese; mix again. Makes 5 or 6 servings. Per serving: 346 cal.; 13 g protein; 13 g fat; 46 g carbo.; 173 mg sodium; 6 mg chol.

**I added about 3 tbs. fat free milk and 1 lb. Italian sausage to it... yummy. And, we do this same recipe on a pretty regular basis with asparagus rather than the mizuna. It's super good.***

I'm so excited to see what else we get week to week. And for the recipes that will follow!

Milk and Cookies

This is the theme this semester in Kindermusik (KM). It is all about learning how to help out around the house. Charlie has learned how to do laundry, go to the supermarket, clean up his spills, etc... all along with songs. It's great! Last week it was rainy and cold one day, so I decided to break out our KM book and make a batch of cookies. First, we read about how to make cookies. (And we suited up in mommy's apron):
Then, we got to work. Lots of adding and stirring.


Charlie's favorite part?

Waiting is hard work, too.

The Chocolate Chip/Captain Crunch/Heath Bar cookies are now gone. It was a great first-cookie-making experience. And, we learned a little bit about having to finish most of our dinner before getting a cookie! We'll be doing it again soon.

We were there. It was (not so) awesome.

I'm glad we went. I'm happy we got the experience. I'm not so happy about the outcome. Thanks Bob and Ann for taking us along.
I'm glad you and brother Meeks got to experience a win on Saturday night!

It was neat seeing Lyle Lovett perform.
It was surreal seeing not one, but two, ex-presidents throw out the first pitch.
Hi George and George.
The kid who dressed up like Ron Washington was awesome.
Unfortunately, the game was a let down. But, the Rangers had such a great season and it truly is remarkable that they made it to the World Series!! Unbelievable.

And... this year might have actually made me a baseball fan... which I know Patrick will be thrankful for for years to come. Way to go Rangers!

Halloween Weekend

We had a full weekend of Halloween activities. It started off on Friday with the annual Halloween party at the Hamiltons' house. Charlie didn't really want to wear his fly fisherman's costume (thank you to the Hamilton's for letting us borrow it!) until we got to the party and he saw everyone else dressed up. He then requested, "Outfit, outfit, outfit" until I changed him. He was too busy to stop and take a picture, but I did get a pretty good picture of all the babies. (There were about 7 toddlers who didn't particpate in the picture.)

On Saturday we went to a Halloween carnival. Charlie had fun doing games, winning prizes and bounce housing.

After the carnival, we went Trick or Treating at Babo and Pop's house. No pictures were taken, but Charlie really enjoyed his cookie treats he got from his grandparents!
On Sunday we carved a pumpkin. Charlie had fun scooping out the seeds. (Notice Charlie's shirt... he was really so proud of it and his new baseball that Patrick bought him.)

That afternoon was our neighborhood party. Always a good time!

Sweet Rhodes and Drew:

Just a year ago:

And now:

(I'm thinking Charlie might be a fireman next year... just sayin)

High five, dude!

No Trick or Treating this year... mommy and daddy decided to go to the World Series instead!