Rounders, Our New Favorite Pizza

The other day, Olivia and I celebrated her BFF Halley's birthday with a Book of Life-themed party. If you have seen the film, you know it is absolutely gorgeous, filled with dreamy Dia de los Muertos imagery. The face painter at the party really did the movie justice, painting all the little girls as beautiful muertas!

Afterwards, we met up with Jackson and Tony and had dinner at our new favorite pizza place, Rounders. I think it's just as good as Home Slice, but without the long wait. Plus, patio seating. 

The pizza is awesome, and so is the Greek salad, plus it comes with free garlic knots.

Then it was home and time for a bit of homework and reading practice. Look at what Jackson brought home from the library. This is a children's graphic novel! (Fortunately not too graphic, haha!)

After homework, he was on to more important things, like circling items in the Target Christmas catalog. When I was a kid, it was the Sears catalog. Wishlist making is serious business!

Olivia's First Field Trip

Although she has accompanied me as a chaperone on a few of Jackson's field trips over the years, Olivia was excited for her very first kindergarten field trip of her own. The destination was Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls, over an hour away. Olivia had never rode a school bus before, and she was nervous about that. But, she did fine, and we spent a perfect fall day on the farm.

Entering the corn maze.

Hayride!

Painting pumpkins.

Olivia the goat whisperer.

After being away all day, I didn't really feel like cooking, so we had dinner at Serrano's. I had cheese enchiladas with green chile sauce.

Afterwards, we had to pop into Costco for a few things and I picked up some autumn treats - dark chocolate covered figs, and Hail Merry pumpkin spice mini-tarts. Yum!

Halloween Party 2015

We threw our first family Halloween party this year! It was a lot of fun and I think we may try to make it an annual tradition. I made lots of spooky finger foods. (Thanks, Pinterest!)

Haunting string cheese.

Pumpkin rice krispie treats.

Mummified granola bars.

Alien sugar cookies.

Jack-o-veggie tray.

Toothy apples and peanut butter.

My personal favorite, barfing pumpkin with guac and queso.

Hosting a party was the perfect excuse to pick up a few new Halloween decorations.

Tony and I, 50's style!

We had a few games set up for the kids, like "Pin the Boo on the Ghost."

Mostly, it was a lot of this. We planned to have outside activities, but it was raining like crazy so we ended up having about 20 kids swarming through the house. Loud and chaotic, yes, but they all looked super cute in their costumes and it is a memory Jackson and Olivia will always have of their childhood.

Pumpkin Carving

This was our drive to school this morning. Nature wears its very best colors this time of year.

Although Halloween is past, I have to post pics of Jackson and Olivia's jack-o-lanterns. They had an early release from school one afternoon last week, so we grabbed a couple of pumpkins at the store and got to carving. Such intense concentration!

Jackson always goes for abstract shapes.

Olivia's has long eyelashes!

While the kids proudly set their pumpkins out on the porch, I made dinner. Cashew cheeze enchiladas topped with black olives and broccoli.

I also made a pot of black bean soup, using the Peas and Thank You recipe, for Tony to take to a work potluck.

Trick or Treat!

We started our Halloween right, with lunch at Alborz. As far as I know, it's the only Persian restaurant in Austin. They offer a lunch buffet with vegetarian and vegan items clearly marked. I loaded up on hummus, tabouli, eggplant stew, and several different kinds of rice pilafs. One had lima beans and dill; another had sour cherries and nuts. On the side, must-o-khiar (cucumber yogurt dip, similar to tzatziki) with lots of fluffy flatbread for dipping.

Then we spent a couple of hours at a birthday party, before coming home to change for the main event. Trick or treating! Fairy Princess and Ultron were so excited they could barely contain themselves.

Tony didn't want to wear a real scary wolf mask and frighten the kids, so this is what we came up with. Haha!

First we went to the neighborhood park for Trunk or Treat. The kids played some carnival games, checked out the decorations, and compared costumes with friends from school and soccer.

Triceradog!

Candy! Yassss!

Then it was off for a short walk through the hood, collecting more treats along the way. I love how our neighbors go all out with their decorating!

Spooky graveyard!

We finished up the night at a neighbor's potluck party. The kids chilled in the garage watching Halloween cartoons, while the adults nibbled on finger foods and drank pumpkin beer.

I brought kalamata olive tapenade, using the recipe from The Urban Vegan.

It was a perfect Halloween night! Hope you had a good one!