Finally Halloween and Some Yum...

I almost forgot to post Halloween pictures! Sheesh!

You've already seen Lily Ruth as Cowgirl Jesse. When she chose her costume, she announced that Daddy was going to be Woody, and Mama was going to be Buzz Lightyear :-/ Not that I would mind being Buzz Lightyear, but it would have been a bit labor-intensive. After constructing Lily Ruth's costume and hand-stitching cow print to an existing vest for Sheriff Woody, I was drained. Daddy came to my rescue and bought a pair of cat ears for me while he was out searching for the perfect hat. Then all I had to do is run up a quick tail from black felt, and shove myself into some slim black clothes - voila, cat!

- as an aside, Lily Ruth was almost Cat Jesse. When I drew on my black eyeliner cat nose and whiskers, she delightedly demanded a set of her own. I gleefully complied. There was a moment of almost catastrophe when Daddy tried to wipe it off without her permission (Boys! What was he THINKING!?), but in the end, she asked to have it removed before we left because the nose was distracting.

So, here you go! First up, a party on the Saturday before Halloween. Jesse was pretty much attached to the leg of Sheriff Woody - it was a noisy party, and she was NOT convinced that she wanted to be there:

So Daddy picked her up and gave her a cuddle:

and I squeezed in for a quick pic:

Amazingly, those are the only pictures of us from the party...

Here are the only pictures of us from Halloween night -

Slightly fuzzy:

 Even fuzzier:

 ... I need to either be a bit more forceful about getting the camera out and taking pictures / asking others to take pictures of us OR I need to stop feeling disappointed when I end up with 5 mediocre pictures. *sigh*

Pictures aside, we had a WONDERFUL time dressing up as a family. It was even more fun to do it twice :-) Lily Ruth was positively giddy. She referred to Don as 'Woody' constantly - we're talking every sentence she uttered to him - and giggled every time that she called me 'Cat'. She also yodeled on command 'Yodel-ay-he-WHO'. It was hilarious.

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On to the food!!!!

I made burgers based loosely on a recipe from Deceptively Delicious :-) They were possibly the best burgers I've ever made. Wait, you know what, they WERE the best burgers I've ever made. Yum.

Rachel's Veggie Loaded Burgers

1 Lb ground meat (I used sirloin, but you could use any beef or even turkey)
1/4 cup pureed steamed carrot
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 Lb baby bella mushrooms cleaned and finely chopped
1 zucchini finely chopped
garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste

1) Mix all that stuff together then shape it into patties. 2) Cook those suckers. 3) Top with cheese - I used Havarti. 4) Whimper softly as you take the first bite because it's THAT GOOD.

I have no idea what sent those from possibly good into amazing, but they were... Lily Ruth was not as thrilled as I was. Next time I'll chop the mushrooms and zucchini into much smaller pieces so that she can't see them ;-)

You're welcome. :-P