a look inside motherhood. not mine. sarah's.

a lot of my friends have babies by now...and i think they are all pretty incredible.  the moms, that is.  well, the babies are pretty great too.  but this little lady, sarah clark, is exceptionally wonderful.  she makes motherhood look so easy.  i know that it isn't and she would never claim it is either, but i love watching her in action.  i really admire her ability to multi-task.  she is a career woman and an A+ mom and wife.  

i don't know how she does it but i am hoping she can give me some lessons pretty soon because baby deRoo will be here any day now.

and this is her baby boy, jansen.  or baby j, as we like to call him.  and did i mention he is a little prince?  

he has the best temperament ever. love that kid!  

jansen is almost 14 months so sarah has a year under her belt by now.  

sounds like a good time to start mentoring a new mom like me!

recent kentucky highlights. {in pictures.}

fave friends.

Keenland.

Zax Attack!  (scrum de la scrum.)

 

50% of our favorite schnauzers.  Charlie.

B&W.  more sophisticated.

Happy Halloweenie.  Spooky.

Love.

Buddies.

Babies.

making crafts.  (making messes.)

(more) Babies. 

perfect weekend.  need i say more?

Kentuckybound.

Today we’re headed to Kentucky. KY is our most frequented vacation spot. Why? you ask?

Remember them?

Chris and Sarah Clark.  They’re why.

 And Jansen too.

I have lost count as to how many times we have visited Kentucky. Sarah probably knows; she’s good at numbers.

Chris…more commonly known, just as Clark. Is basically our travel agent. Check out the itinerary he sent us. (this is something we can come to expect from Clark every time we visit. He usually gets quite excited and starts planning the itinerary a month before the visit. We like it that way.)

Friday 10/29
62 SUNNY
deRoo’s arrive.
7:00pm Clark-deRoo Oktoberfest!
-Dinner, drinks, tricks, treats, and crafts

Saturday 10/30
67 SUNNY
7:00am Clark’s café opens.
-Special of the month: Country biscuits and gravy.
10:30am Depart for Lexington
11:30pm ZAX ATTACK
12:30pm Keenland.
4:00pm Need to be at home to prepare for Halloween.
5:00pm Hogge family arrives for BBQ, drinks, and pre-game trick or treating.
6:00pm Trick or Treating officially starts
7:00pm Kentucky vs Miss.State ESPNU
8:00pm Michigan vs. Penn State ESPN
8:00pm Ohio State vs. Minnesota ABC

Sunday 10/31
73 MOSTLY SUNNY
8:00am Clark’s café’ opens.
-Sunday Special: Flapjacks and Bacon
9:30am Taylor/Chris depart for Arlington. (10:10 tee-time with Brian and Brother)
9:30am Gilmore Girls and craft for the girls and Jansen.
2:30pm Home from Arlington.
5:00pm Giovanni’s Pizza (take out) or Casa Café’ (dine in)

Monday 11/1
71 FEW SHOWERS
6:00am Clark’s café opens.
-deRoo’s pack car to depart then realize they are staying another day.

Here are a few sneak peaks of Keenland.  Put it on your list of things to do.  It's beautiful. 
 



halloween party for grown ups.

Want to throw a little pre-game Halloween Party for the big kids in your life? Read on..

All it takes is:

A handful of thirsty neighbors.

An Extra-Scary Bloody Mary Buffet. (actually it’s only extra scary for the hostess who is trying to disguise her anxiety attack hoping nobody spills tomato juice all over her new couch!)

Spicy Shredded ‘don’t-be-a-chicken’ BBQ Sliders. (basically pulled pork sandwiches. 84 pork, add chicken.)

A Haunted Tower of Millionaire Bars. combine every delicious ingredient you have ever had in a bar…and you’ve got yourself a Millionaire Bar: rice krispies, oats, peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallows, butterscotch, peanuts, coconut. Oh my! Thanks for the recipe, Beth! (BTW, the glass cover on my cake plate rattles when you open and close it…hence the “haunted” part.)

and..

A Basket of Treats for Tricks.  Now this is pretty cute, if I am allowed to say so myself. I have this adorable long wire basket that I filled with mason jars (one of my obsessions.) Each jar was filled with old fashioned Halloween candy & fall colored treats: candy corn, little pumpkins, black licorice, Reeses Pieces and Milkduds.   (I didn't actually make anyone do tricks but I did write "trick or treat" on a little chalkboard tile.)

Ok, I know the Halloween Theme is a bit of a stretch since I just made up all of those food titles about 3 minutes ago.  This Halloween Party Tutorial is a little make-shift because I didn’t actually host a Halloween Party.  I hosted a Pumpkinfest Parade tailgate (inside my house) Party.  Just a spur of the moment little way for my neighbors to enjoy  some yummy fall flavors while watching Zeeland’s annual Pumpkinfest Parade (which marches right past our house.)  Well, the girls & kids watched the parade.  The boys watched football on TV.

 

You see, I have to admit that I am not really a fan of Halloween. Not yet anyway. No kids = I can still get away with being a Halloween Scrooge. Taylor and I actually have a little tradition where we skip town for Halloween. First of all, we’re not into costume parties. And our other option is to stay home and hand out candy but I can only imagine how much of a hassle it would be to restrain two overly friendly airedales from personally greeting the 2,884,749,091 trick-or-treaters that climb their way up and down Central Avenue. I am exhausted just thinking about it.

So, instead we just ship the dogs off to The Dog House Resort, pack our bags and cruise control our way down to the bluegrass state to see some of our favorite people.

chris and sarah clark.

and now this little guy too….jansen clark. so.very.precious.

 

Moral of the story: the menu is perfect for any fall party...only it’s been 3 weeks since I took these pictures so I tried fake you out like it was a good idea for Halloween.  That’s all.

p.s. i just tried to get you a link to the recipe for millionaire bars but it seems google's version and my version are quite different.  ignore google and i will post my recipe soon!