Oh, The First Snowfall of the Winter!

So technically not the FIRST snowfall since we had had some snow earlier in the year before Halloween.  But this was the first snow that made it's presence known and a week and a half later is still sitting on the ground.

I was glad that it snowed Thursday night (November 8) and onto the next day because my day off from work right now is Fridays.  I was happy to curl up on the couch with some hot chocolate and read the day away.  This month I am hosting the Book Group that I am a part of, and my pick was "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte.  I needed the better part of the day to make it through a good portion of the book despite how quickly I read.

The only time I left home was to run and grab more hot cocoa mix (Stephen's Chocolate Raspberry and Mexican Chocolate) and some stuff to make homemade hummus.  We have been on quite the hummus kick for several months now and "Our Best Bites" has an easy 5-minute recipe.  Yum!

How quickly we went from this:

 To this:

 

This is the view from our front door

 Don't worry, Mom.  I remembered to listen to The Carpenters' Christmas album to celebrate!

Election Day!

I was really excited about the election this year.  Maybe because for the first time I truly believed with all my heart that my candidate could deliver on his promises and solve this mess we seem to be in.  November 6th was a very exciting day for me--like Christmas!  I was antsy the whole day and couldn't wait to leave work, go vote and then turn on the news for the rest of the night.

 It is such an honor to have the privilege of voting.  What a blessing to live in this great nation!  I felt like it was a bit of a nailbiter there for a few hours to see how some of the states would go this year, so I was on the edge of the couch for a while...

But it is all said and done!  I guess now we can just look forward with optimism and faith in the promise that God is mindful of us and our prayers.

Holla-ween 2012!

It's Holla-ween y'all!  Holla!

October 31, 2012 did not disappoint.  Halloween is an important holiday to Andrew and I because it was at a Halloween party two years ago (Oct. 30, 2010) that our paths crossed for the first time.  The rest is history.

 Our spectacular pumpkins

Note to self: buy Halloween candy early or else your trick-or-treaters are stuck with Sweet Tarts and Pixie Sticks.  Blech!

#23 Go to a costume party
I'm not gonna lie.  I was hoping I was off the hook with this one this year.  Mostly because as much as we racked our brains, we COULD NOT come up with a costume idea.  Until the day before.  At 6:30 PM.  Thank you, Scera Theatre for hooking us up with some of your finest rentals.  A pair of wolf hands, some fur, and a red cape and we were set.

Meet Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad A Wolf:

He is such a good sport!

 We weren't the only ones with that idea, apparently

 Party at the Rothfels? Party like a rock star!

Monster Hot Cocoa

#22 Make a yummy cup of Monster Hot Cocoa

Doesn't that look awesome?  Todd said it "looks like you drowned Kermit in a cup and only his eyes are left above the surface!"  Exactly.  This is one of the first things that I pinned last Fall when I joined Pinterest.  (Now we all wonder how we ate, decorated, repurposed, celebrated, etc. without it!) 

 I did try to make the recipe as directed on Tuesday, October 30, but I found that the chocolate chips didn't melt very well.  And I let them cook for a looooooooooooooooong time.  So I will probably just make regular hot cocoa in the future and pop the eyes on top.

Andrew was at bowling league that night so I just curled up on the couch and had a cup all by myself.  Mmmm...

Pumpkin Carving

#21 Carve Pumpkins

Every year for the Family Home Evening before Halloween, my family carves their jack-o-lanterns.  This is a tradition that I hope Andrew and I carry on with our family.

I can't say I really ENJOY carving pumpkins.  It is such a sticky, gooey mess!

While I just went for an easy pattern that came with our carving kit, Andrew had something much more grand in mind.

My pumpkin took about an hour to carve

Andrew finally called it quits on his "Bane" before he hit the 4 1/2 hour mark

THIS Is Halloween!

#20 Watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

I can't believe that we had to get to #20 on our Fall Bucket List, before we got this watched.  Halloween.  Staple.  Am I right?  And let me tell you, we watched it for the first time on Blu-Ray and it was amazing!  There was so much detail and texture I feel like I have missed out on before.  Andrew and I watched this the Saturday night before Halloween (October 27).  This movie just gets you from the very beginning: