Happy Fall Y'all! Cold in Houston

It finally feels like fall and we will rejoice even if it's only for one day! The littles have begged me to drag out the Halloween decorations every day for about 2 weeks. It's hard to get into fall when it's 90 degrees and the mosquitoes are still invading! I love fall decorating, but I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. Hoot lives for Halloween and all the creepiness that comes with it. I'm mostly to blame. We had a few awesome Halloween parties when he was little and I think he had the most fun. He loves to dress up and talks about Halloween all year long. We have been planning his Halloween costume since last November. It has changed at least 300 times and were still not 100% certain of what he will be this year. He usually manages to score two costumes. We buy him one and then one of the grands will be manipulated into buying the other. I'm not sure how he works this magic but he does. When I was growing up we usually invented our costumes with what we had around the house. I was a punk rocker one year and used almost a whole tub a Vaseline in my hair... yeah no one told me that wasn't a good idea... My poor hair was greasy for 3 months. No amount of washing seemed to help. Not cool in 6th grade... Daddy Lambert went to Dallas this weekend to a car show so the kids and I readied the house for his return. Owen wants to transform our garage into a haunted house so we can scare him when he opens the door... This is coming from the kid who is still scared of Dr. Jiggles from Veggie Tales.. He's a big talker... Instead we baked up some delightful goodies hoping that would lure him home! I'm the worlds biggest chicken (aside from Hoot) and hate when he is gone. I hear every creek and crack and just know there is a boogie man under my bed! So both kids have slept with me this weekend. We crawled in and snuggled close. We watched an all time favorite, The Wizard of Oz... The kids were mesmerized just as I was when I was little. I can't wait to take them to see the play this fall.






























There is a Ninjia dying to escape this pint size 5 year old little girl!



I love Hoots face. This is the Truman look of concentration.. I do it and so does my dad..


I'm so thankful we put in a HUGE island when we bought this house. Little did we know it would accomodate our little chef Libbie. It's perfect!

I think were all ready for Dad to come home! And FALL to stay!!!

Baking with Libbie

Tonight we baked Chocolate Chip Zucchini bread, recipe by Paula Deen at end of post. We have zucchini coming out of our ears. My family doesn't love it the way I do so I have had to get creative. Our neighbor has had a bountiful crop of both tomatoes and zucchini this year and we have been blessed with fresh veggies galore all summer. Anytime I bring out the apron, my minion affixes herself to my thigh until I tell her she can help. She pretends she is a professional chef on her very own cooking show. I let her pour and mix and stir as much as she can. It's great PT for those little wrists and forearms. So we baked. We're Seaside bound next week and I thought I could freeze a loaf of our bread to take with us... They will probably hate it but were going to give it a try. It sounds wonderful!




She is singing the tune Gangnam Style only using the lyrics,,, Baking Libbie Style



We put her apron on after she ruined the shirt... It's how we roll.

Recipe:
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange zest
Whipped cream, for serving
Zucchini ribbons, for serving

Directions
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.
I love this quote I came across today.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. ~ Steve Jobs