Megan's Addiction and Holding Our Nose

No, it's not Christmas. Or even Thanksgiving. But Megan brought all of her Santas out the other day. She inherited her grandmother's collection and she loves them very much. She will bring them out after Halloween, she feels that as long as they don't go up before that she's OK. I am guessing she brought them out on November 1 at 12:01am.

Megan gazes adoringly at her Claus collection

We didn't do much this weekend, it was kinda nice. Lottie Sue's discovered her tongue and plays with it all of the time. She's still feeling a tad bit icky so she gets all of our devoted attention. Here's a photo of her asleep after jumping...

She fell asleep and we left her in there, we
felt it best not to rock the apple cart

Matt before a diaper change, keeping his distance
after Lottie Sue dropped a bomb in her pants

(notice the multiple drool marks on his shirt, courtesy of Lottie Sue)

Matt with two of the three babies, Ernie
must be asleep on a cable box somewhere

And I've decided that I do not like cooking meals. I just don't like it and since Matt cooks everything anyway (he loves to cook) I am putting my efforts toward baking. Last weekend I made carrot cake cupcakes with a ginger frosting for Becce's birthday and they were so yummy (MAKE THEM, here is the recipe: Martha Stewart's Carrot Ginger Cupcakes). My confidence is soaring. This weekend I made several batches and I'm just giving them away since we can't eat all of them. Baking is going to be my new thing. I did make chili for last night with the Smiths and it was great. The recipe is courtesy of Becce's friend Reid, here it is if you are interested:

Game-Day Chili
Yield: 13 cups

2 pounds ground chuck
1 medium onion, chopped
3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
2 (15-ounce) cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
3 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (12-ounce) bottle dark beer
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can beef broth
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 to 2 teaspoons ground red pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon hot sauce
Garnish: pickled jalapeño pepper slices

Cook first 3 ingredients in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain well.
Combine meat mixture, beans, and next 11 ingredients in Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 hours or until thickened. Garnish, if desired.

Matt heads to DC this week, we will miss him terribly! The weather here is suppose to get pretty cold so today I went out and bought Lottie Sue a few winter items, I'll do a fashion show with her later. She grows so fast I really hate buying a lot, but she needs to be fashionable. I know where my priorities are...