The Plothows: November 2017

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Chili cook-off

A neighbor of ours had a chili cook-off last night. Matt decided to try out a new recipe and made some smoked pulled pork chili on the green egg. I told him he's pretty ballsy to make an entirely new recipe for a competition with a bunch of strangers. But, go big or go home, I guess.

We tried to come up with a fun name. I had to add the "spicy" on there because it turned out a little spicier than Matt expected. It was definitely the spiciest chili in the competition. I think most people played it safe and kept it on the tame side.

Our neighbors had these cook-offs in their old neighborhood in Michigan, so they had everything set up perfectly. Tables and lots of extension cords for the crockpots, small tasting cups and spoons, a few crackers, etc. and the voting ballots. I tried all the chilis and it was crazy how different they all tasted. Everyone has their own take on what makes a good chili!

And the results are in... Matt got third place! The chili was a hit! :)

Our neighbors to our immediate right won 1st place. They said they aren't really "chili" people and just tried out a new recipe, too. So, they were surprised to win. It was a fun event and great to get to meet more of our neighbors. I even met another babysitter to add to the rotation!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween with lots of trick or treating and candy! The girls had a party at school and trick or treated with the parents handing out the candy. I stayed to help pass out candy and I loved seeing all the kiddos in their costumes. This year, Morgan was Sofia the First and Avery was a butterfly. She didn't really want to keep on all of her accessories, but I think you can tell what she was. :) Grayson was a vampire.

At home, we got all dressed back up and ready to head out for some trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Checking out their haul!

Shhh.... it's a secret!

Let the countdown begin...

Wedding in Quincy

Last weekend, we went to Quincy for the wedding of my cousin Kelsey and her (now!) husband Bo. She was absolutely beautiful and we all had a great time at the wedding!

We drove down to Rochester on Thursday night and stayed at my parents' house to break the trip up a bit. The girls just love visiting their grandparents house! We spent a little time hanging out with Grandpa on Friday and then headed over to Quincy.

Our hotel had an indoor pool, so we had a quick swim after checking in. We had a pizza party at the hotel with the rest of the fam Friday night and some play time with all the cousins. On Saturday morning, we took all the kiddos to a place called Going Bonkers. It's a huge play place with tons of climbing and slides. Perfect for wearing out a bunch of kids!

Morgan had a little shadow named Beckett everywhere she went.

After lunch, I went to the wedding ceremony while Matt got the girls to nap. That night, we all walked across the street to the reception and the girls had a blast dancing and eating cake! I think they only stopped for about 20 minutes during the speeches and first dances (because we corralled them and made them sit down!)

They had an on-site artist painting a picture at the reception. The girls and I went over to watch her paint and she added them to the picture (the pink and blue smudges on the right). Something else cool about this picture is she painted in my uncle, Kelsey's dad, who passed away five years ago. He's next to her left shoulder between her and my aunt, Pat.

They also had this picture and prayer sitting out at the wedding and reception.

By the time we got back to the hotel, the girls were exhausted! On our way home the next day, they slept a ton in the car. And they are NOT car sleepers. Maybe 30 minutes usually. We had to wake them up when we got home! They did say the ride went by really fast. Ha!

Not creepy at all

Matt has been wearing the animal head masks the girls got for their birthday around the house and sneaking up on the girls. Ha! I'm pretty sure this can cause nightmares!

Morning at the museum

Matt and I had taken a morning off work and planned to take the girls to the pumpkin patch, but it was raining and muddy. So, we decided to go to the museum instead. The girls are always so overwhelmed at places like this. It's like they want to do everything, but don't want to spend much time at any one spot. So, we run from exhibit to exhibit. :)

More birthday parties

The third weekend in October was a busy one. As I mentioned before, we had a bowling birthday party on that Saturday for the girls and Grayson. Then, on Sunday, the girls had another birthday party for a school friend of theirs, Audrey. Her party was at a local gymnastics place. And then after that, we came home and had our annual cousins' birthday party at our house. So much cake. So many presents.

At Audrey's party, the girls got split up into two groups and they did different stations around the gym. I think their favorite was the trapeze. They played for about an hour in the gym and then had pizza and cake. The girls both said they wanted to do gymnastics for their 6th birthday party next year.

On the top of this picture are the girls from their daycare class. From L to R: Morgan, Avery, Hannah, Chloe and Audrey (the birthday girl).

For the cousins' b-day party, Matt smoked some pork in the Green Egg. As always, it turned out super yummy!

We got a separate little cake for each kid so they had their own candle to blow out. Beckett dug right into his cake. He even took a bite of one of the candles! It did look like icing. :)

Uncle Brett and Aunt Sandi got these masks for all the kids - awesome!

Aunt Erin painted faces for the kids - she did a great job!

Avery borrowed my phone and took some pics - here's one of Grandpa

A birthday cake for each of the birthday boys and girls

Light 'em up!

A bowling birthday

This year, we decided to have a "friends" birthday party for the girls. Seems like everyone in their class was throwing a party in October. Guess that's what happens when your kids are in a "late for the date" pre-K class - every kid turns 5 in late September or October! We combined our party with Grayson's and held it at a local bowling alley. We had about 15 kids. They bowled for about an hour and then we had pizza and cake. I felt like it was pure craziness, but they all seemed to be having a blast. :)