Monday pics ... and picadillo!

Happy Monday, my friends! I hope your week's off to a great start!

I am here this evening to share some pics with you - though unfortunately, not a "Masterpiece" re-cap. (Bill and I were exhausted yesterday and only made it through the British baking show before conking out! We recorded Home Fires and Indian Summers and hope to watch them tonight and/or tomorrow night.)

Anyhoo! Here are some photos from the past few days ...

How about these pumpkins? My brother, pretty much every year, brings us our Halloween pumpkins - one for each of us! You can probably guess which one is for Little Bear ... :)

Matt also surprised us with some more autumn goodies - pumpkin spice coffee for me and a Halloween gingerbread house kit for the boys. How fun! My brother is SUCH a great uncle - and brother! We are very lucky he's such a big part of our lives ... ❤

This is our Little Bear, walking the neighborhood with his Daddy, trusty wheelbarrow in tow - natch! He is rarely without his wheelbarrow. And this colorful, fleecy jacket is approximately 20 years old! Each of my boys has worn it, and it's my favorite piece of fall clothing EVER. As you can see, LB is just about to grow out of it ... and that fox hat is getting a bit tight, too! He's getting so big ....

Today I started making a paper-chain countdown to Halloween for Earlybird, who is practically crawling out of his skin in excitement over the approaching holiday. I needed something visual/ tangible that would allow him to SEE how far/close we are to All Hallow's Eve. (Because every day is pretty much: "Let's do (such and such) to get ready for Halloween.") I will write a post about what I've written inside each link of the chain - every day we'll have something to know/learn about Halloween (history/traditions) and there will be plenty of simple activities to help us channel some of that Earlybird energy! It also helps me direct his perception of the holiday - which is preferable to the commercial/mainstream influence we'd rather avoid.

And finally, I made that picadillo recipe today and it has been declared a Family Hit!

Above you see how it looked as I turned the crockpot on low, and below is how I found it, seven hours later ...

Funnily enough, I didn't add garlic skin to the pot before I started cooking - but someone else *ahem* seemed to think it was a good idea. Also, said someone thought it prudent (fun? helpful?) to turn the crockpot down from low to warm when Mama wasn't looking ... about halfway through the cook time ...

Thankfully, the beef was already fully cooked (in a skillet) before I started the whole "mess" in the crockpot. And thankfully, it still came out great! Truly, it was a hit. At least with Bill and me. Bookworm, had he been home, also would have loved it. The younger boys, not so much. But we had it in wraps (Bill) and on wheat pizzas (me) for supper. And there is still PLENTY leftover.

And final note - 

I'm starting this soon, and it sounds really neat! It revolves around the downstairs staff serving the Bennett family (a la Pride and Prejudice) which is enormously intriguing, to me anyway. Our library Book Club is reading it this month and I'm really hoping to join in. I haven't done a book club in AGES. Of course, the night will arrive and I'll feel too tired to go out - but I'm still hoping to make it! I'm at least going to read it. So I just ordered it from Amazon. :)

Well friends, that's all for today ... but I thank you for stopping by, and hope to see you here again very soon! Enjoy your evening, and God Bless!