Cirque du Soliel

We took the girls to see the Cirque du Soleil show Crystal, the ice version of Cirque. The performers did gymnastics on the ice, pretty cool. We started off the show with one of the characters coming to our row and handing us all snowballs to throw. :)

The show was surprisingly long at two hours. I thought most Cirque shows were 90 minutes. The girls were getting a little antsy and hungry towards the end. The cotton candy and pretzel could only hold them for so long! ;) But, they really enjoyed the music and craziness and all the different characters.

Leaves

We raked up the leaves and the girls had fun jumping and running through them! It was definitely chillier this year that last!

Babysitting

We switched babysitting nights with the Wilkens. We watched all the kids at their house on our night. The kids had a blast! It was kind of craziness most of the night until the little boys went to bed. I think Matt and I are glad we don't have 5 kids under the age of 5... it would be exhausting! :) 

DeezNuts Reunion

A long time ago (way before kids!), a group of friends were on a volleyball team called DeezNuts. :) Recently, a few of us reunited for drinks and dinner. It's been such a long time since we've seen each other. It was fun to reminisce about old times and catch up on everyone's lives now!

Eric, me, Hany and Brandon

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...