All Things Halloween

Tomorrow is Braylen's second Halloween and first ever Halloween class party! Last year he was still in the baby room at school so they didn't do much, we dressed him up as a monkey though. I can't find any pictures of his in his outfit..(I know, horrible) but here is a picture of him last year with his pumpkin.

Wow, what a change! Anyways back on topic, tomorrow is his party at school and I signed up to bring fruit. I was trying to think of a way to make it Halloween-ish but still keep it fruity and peanut free, of course. So here is the fruit pumpkin that I came up with...

I bought a foil cookie sheet from Hy-Vee for a dollar and three jars of mandarin oranges.They are definitely Braylen's favorite fruit, or one of them anyways but they are the only orange one! I was going for a pumpkin with a Jack-O-Lantern smile so I also bought some purple grapes to make the eyes and smile out of.

 Here is what I ended up with! Drain the juice out of the jars of oranges and spread them on the cookie sheet in a circle. I only ended up using 2 of the 3 but Braylen will have no problem eating through the other jar. Then just use the grapes to make the Jack-O-Lantern smile! I think it turned out pretty cute and it was simple. Besides the almost 2 year olds won't know the difference.

I showed it to Braylen to see if he would recognize it as a pumpkin but all he said was "bite!". Guess that means it will be perfect for the class party. Here is a preview of his Halloween costume, he is begging for bites of the pumpkin. This is his "PLEASE!" face. I will post more Tuesday with his hair done and shoes on...he refuses to wear the hat!

Happy Halloween!

The Many Faces of Braylen

Guacamole

This is a picture of my side of the family. I am the youngest of 6 children, a few people are missing from the photo.  This guacamole recipe I am about to share originally came from my brother Scott and his wife Lindsay. Scott and Lindsay are getting close to their year anniversary of marriage and have been living out in LA ever since then. We don't get to see them very often but I make this recipe for everything and every time I do, it makes me miss them more. This recipe is less about the guacamole and more about the combo of the guac, onions, tomatoes, and brand of tortilla chips. I was never really a guacamole fan before this recipe... 

You will need 3 avocados, a small white onion, one tomato (or 2 small romas), Ortega guacamole mix, and Tostitos Hint of Jalapeno chips

Start by chopping up the onion and tomatoes. This is a quarter of a small onion and one of the small roma tomatoes. I had planned on using both romas but felt like this was enough. Do what works for you. It works well with this amount of avocados. I am not the biggest fan of onions and tomatoes but this combo is heaven.

When is comes to the avocados, timing is everything. If you will be making guacamole the same day you buy them, look for soft and ripe avocados. If it will be a few days, buy the harder ones and let them sit on the counter for a few days to soften.

If you have never cut an avocado before, you need to know that there is a giant seed in the middle of them. So you will have to cut around it. Just simply slice the knife all the way around the avocado around the seed.

This is what they look like cut open.

I use a spoon to dig the seed out, just scoop around the seeds on all sides. Make sure you save one of the seeds, you will see why after it is all made. 

After the seed is out, scoop out the inside of the avocado. You will leave the hard skin of the avocado behind. Repeat with the other 2 avocados.

 Mash all of the avocados together in a bowl so you can get the guacamole consistence. The riper the avocado, the easier this is. It is possible to do with unripe avocados but it will be difficult. I sometimes have to have Brett use his muscle to mush them.

 Next, add the guacamole seasoning to the avocados. Stir it in well.

Add the tomatoes and onions, however much you want to.

This is what the end product looks like, and it is yummy! Now it is time to use the seed that you saved, store it with the guac in the fridge. It helps keep it from turning brown. If it does start turning brown after a few hours in the fridge, just stir it. 

And don't forget the Hint of Jalapeno chips!

Mason Jars

This is what the tables at the reception of our wedding looked like back in May. The centerpieces were very simple and made with spray painted mason jars, fake hydrangea flowers, and a few votive candles. When I was deciding what to do for the tables I wanted something that we wouldn't have to spend too much money on and I wanted to be able to make something for them. We bought about 15 mason jars and I decided to try to spray paint the inside of them to make them match our color scheme, gray and green. I had found the hydrangea flowers at Hobby Lobby and decided to incorporate them with the jars. We saved a lot of money by using the fake flowers and they still looked great.

To spray paint the jars we started out with 1 small can of spray paint. We ended up buying another small can so you could just go with one of the large ones. First we tried to spray them sitting upright but soon noticed that it was all just running down the sides and sitting in the bottom. So we started doing one side at a time. It took awhile but on a weekend just set them all up in the garage on some newspaper. Start with the bottom and just spray the bottom of all the jars. Let them set an hour or two and flip them on their side and do that side. Continue this for all the sides and then check them. We had a few that weren't completely covered on a side or two so we just did a second coat.

 The hydrangea flowers were full enough so that the bunch just sat in the lip of the mason jars. They had pretty long stems so I had Brett just use a knife to cut them all down to the same size.  Then we could just set them on the top of the jar. Add a few boxes of votive candles and you've got a great, simple centerpiece.

 I recently placed one of the jars on the bookcase in our entryway, it is a little reminder of our wedding everyday that I love to see. 

 I also use it to stash some of the my pens and pencils in. It works perfectly and no one can see them!

Explanations

I have always said that "family days" are my favorite. Usually they only get to happen on the weekends. Today was just one of those days. Let me tell you how our day has gone so maybe you can understand why I live for them..

 Brett and I woke up at about 8:15am and yes, this is sleeping in for us. I checked our video monitor and Braylen was still snoozing sideways in his bed. That meant Brett and I got to stay in bed for awhile and snuggle instead of jumping right out of bed to get ready. When we did get up and get Braylen and took him potty, we got to talk all about how he slept and what he dreamt about. Of course when I asked him, he said that he dreamt all about Mommy and Daddy :)

 Then we came downstairs and turned on Aladdin and did Braylen's morning breathing treatments for his asthma. Brett made us all eggs(for whatever reason he has always been the egg maker of the household) and we sat around the table eating breakfast listening to the Elmo pandora station. After breakfast we terrorized our living room by getting out any and all toys that Braylen owns and we played until lunchtime.

 We went out to lunch before going grocery shopping. It seems to be a favorite pastime of Braylen's to reach his little hands out of the cart and touch everything on every aisle we go down. It is much easier to shop with Daddy's help. I make sure to take some juice as to occupy him for at least a few aisle, especially the cookie aisle. He has recently started asking "what's that?" to everything that he even knows so we always have that game to play. Generally the afternoon would be nap time but lately he has been a protester of naps and can't seem to ever fall asleep. So Daddy and Braylen played and watched Toy Story while I made Rice Krispy treats. I came back into the living room when I was done to this....

Looks like they both got a nap in anyways, how can you not love this? We will finish off our day by eating dinner, probably playing some more, watching the Cardinals play tonight, and putting Braylen to bed. Days like these may not interest you, but to us they mean everything. Braylen will only want to hang out with us all day for so long...

Move Maker

So yesterday I told you that my son is a spit fire and that he loves music, among other things. Our favorite show to watch together is The Ellen Show. Ellen is a regular name in our household. He dances when she dances and laughs when she laughs.

The other day Ellen had 2 little girls on her show that sang a song by Nicki Minaj called Super Bass. Braylen really took a liking to it and began to break it down. Brett and I proceeded to rewind the DVR recording several times to watch Braylen's reaction. Here is a video of it that I took with our IPad. He is also singing to it as well.

Here goes nothing..

I have been wanting to just jump into this thing called "blogging" but first I had to think about would I actually write that would be interesting enough for other people to read. Surely my life isn't that interesting right? Well here goes nothing...


My name is Sara Boggs and I am a newlywed that has recently hit the 5 month anniversary mark. Whahoo! My husband Brett, is the kindest and most helpful, loving man I have ever met. We both knew after a month or so of dating that this thing was for real. This is our son Braylen Wade, he is 22 months old and a real spit fire. He is a lover of all things Elmo, Toy Story, music, animals, and food.

I do work outside of the home, even though it breaks my heart. We have to make ends meet somehow. I work 30 hours a week and Braylen goes to a daycare about 1 mile from our house. Just ask my husband, if I had it my way, the three of us would never leave each others sides. I am a big fan of what I have deemed "family days". 


We are an average family, we don't have money to go blow on whatever we'd like. Currently we are working on saving to buy a house. Our very own home. Although, I believe wherever we are is home. I'll be sharing our budget, life, love, and all over triumphs and tribulations. Hopefully you will stick around with me. 


So here you have it, we are the boggs.


Sara