Spaghetti Squash, Beaver Brook Reservation, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Kimball Farms, and Eggplant Pizzas

On the plate:  Spaghetti squash, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and eggplant pizzas

Soundtrack to cook to:  Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up on repeat.  The boys LOVE them some R&B.

This month has been killer in terms of Joseph's schedule.  He's been working multiple overnights in a row, and when he's home, he's sleeping, eating dinner, and leaving for work.  Thus, when he's home and sleeping, I have to try my best to get the boys out of the house so that Joseph can get his much needed rest.
Alexander was in need of some new pants (this kid grows like a weed!), so I took both boys to the nearest shopping mall.  This was Alexander's first exposure to mall rides.  I swear that back in the day (when I was a kid), the rides were 25 cents.  I was BLOWN away by the inflation over the years!  I couldn't believe that one of the rides was 75 cents and another was $1.00!!  Ridiculous.  (Yes, I'm that old person complaining about how things used to be cheaper, "When I was a kid.")

Alexander was so excited to ride the helicopter,
but once he got on, it barely jostled.  For 75 cents,
I felt like that thing should've taken off, jetted around
the mall, and touched down in the same place.
He looked so disappointed (and rightly so), that I dug
into my pockets and took him to another ride in the mall.

The carousel was $1.00, but it was well worth it!
He had a lot of fun.  However, as soon as I put the $1.00
in the machine and the carousel started up, a parent
grabbed their child and threw their child onto the moving
carousel and hitch hiked on Alex's dime!  I was slightly
irritated, but only because I hadn't thought of that first.  :)

Time for some yummy food!  Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me find the recipe that I used for this cheesy, marinara spaghetti squash.  So, I'll just tell you what I did based on the recipe.

Cut 1 spaghetti squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.

Place the squash, cut side down into a casserole dish
that has water that's about 1 inch deep.
Microwave for 10 minutes.

*Note:  I had to microwave the squash for 20 minutes, and I still think
it needed about 5 minutes more to be perfect. 

In a small bowl, mix the following ingredients:
(This is where I ad-libbed)
1 cup ricotta (I used the non-fat kind)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut into fourths
1 tbsp oregano
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper

Once you can pierce through the skin of the spaghetti squash
easily with a fork, then the squash should be cooked through.

Take a fork and scrape the squash into spaghetti-like strands
and leave in the skin of the squash.

Take the ricotta mixture and place half of the mixture in
one squash, and the other half of the mixture in the other squash.

Like so :)

Then top with your favorite marinara sauce, a little bit of cheddar
cheese, and some parmesan cheese.

Place the squash on a foil-lined pan under the broiler on HI
for about 10-15 minutes (or until the cheese is bubbly and brown).

Delish!!  The result is a really delicious take on a vegetable lasagna
minus the noodle aspect.  It's all of the flavors with none of the pasta.
Heavenly, rich and creamy, and oh-so delicious!

A tender moment with the brothers!  We were getting
ready to go out for a walk and Alexander was taking off his
slippers.  William crawled up to him and gave him
a big hug!!  It was so adorable to see them hug
each other and enjoy each other's company.

Brother snugglefest!  Warms my heart.  :)

We had another weekend at SOWA!  (The outdoor farmer's market/art festival every Sunday in Boston.)  I told you we'd be there every weekend!  I'm addicted to the local vendor goodies and the food trucks.  :)

Me and William cuddling while shopping.  :)

I can't believe how BIG he's gotten.  

Obligatory naked baby picture!!

Squishy baby bottom!!  Love it!

"Mommy, please, NO more pictures!"

"Okay, maybe one more!"  :)

Check out his new chompers that are coming in!
Joseph and I joked around that he looked like
"Dale" from "Chip and Dale."

Lol!  What do you think?  Is the resemblance uncanny or what?
(just kidding)  :)

William, trying out some more new foods.  :)

Every night during bath time, I read William
the same two books.  One of them has pictures
of real babies in it and he absolutely lights up
when I read it to him.  Look at his face!  He loves this book.

While Joseph has been sleeping during the day (because he's been working overnights - his day is our night), I've been trying to keep the boys quiet and out of the house as much as possible.  We found this little hopscotch area at a nearby school.  I was beyond excited to teach Alexander how to play.

Look at our little guy in action!

Woo hoo!  He nailed it!

He's getting the hang of it.

I loved his enthusiasm!

Another proud parent moment - Alexander's
drawing of "Daddy"!!!  He did this all by himself!
I was astonished.  :)

Adventure time!  When our sons were at daycare, one of the teachers sent me these following pictures of William playing with the fountains at the park:  

William, inspecting the fountains with his "serious" face.

He loved it!  The teachers said that William was
like a, "Fish to water," when he crawled to the
fountains and played that day.
I love the look in his eyes.

Since I saw that the boys had had such fun at the park with the sprinklers, I wanted to get in one more day of water play before the weather got cold.  I decided to take the boys to Beaver Brook Reservation, which is a nearby nature preserve that has a really awesome splash park.  I was inspired by a friend who took her son to this place and looked like he had a great time.

I dressed the boys in their bathing suits and took them there the next day.

Mommy FAIL!  Unfortunately the splash parks in Waltham close earlier than the ones in Brookline.  Womp wommmmmp.  Here's a few pics of the boys playing in the very dry splash park.

"Hi mommy!  Yeah, the dry concrete and leaves are just as fun
as a splash park.  Thannnnnks."

Oh well, thankfully they were flexible and still had fun with one another.

Awww.  I'm loving these sweet brother moments.

Alexander refers to William as, "William's my baby!"  It's very sweet.

Since the splash park wasn't so splashy, we decided to walk in the nature preserve area of the reservation.  It was really lovely.

Alexander exploring the "brook" portion of Beaver Brook Reservation.

Alexander loved exploring the brook.

Alexander exploring the brook

William enjoyed watching Alexander climb the rocks.

"Let's check out this trail, mommy!"

Awwww!  Look at our sweetie.  :)

He was being awfully playful and cheeky.

I was inspired by another mommy friend of mine and made a picnic for us that day.  Since Alexander goes to a nut free school, he's only had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a small handful of times in his life.  He was beyond tickled to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch that day.

It was hot that day (88 degrees F).  Unfortunately our boys sweat
very easily.

He LOVED our "pic-a-nic."  He reminded me of Yogi Bear
when he said that.

After our "pic-a-nic," we stopped by a little ice cream stand to get a treat.

Alexander's favorite anything is chocolate.  He
loves chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, chocolate -
ice cream...chocolate ANYTHING.  Thus, when he
was given a choice of 15 different flavors of ice cream,
his choice was CHOCOLATE ice cream!

Then, after our little treat, we played on the playground for a bit before we went home.

William LOVES to swing on the swings.

He's one happy little guy.

After this very busy morning filled with physical activity, the boys took an EXTRA long nap that afternoon.  Thankfully, these boys take their afternoon naps at the same time.  Since I had some extra time on my hands, I decided to whip up some fresh baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as a surprise for when they woke up.  (But really...who are we kidding?  I wanted a treat for myself as well.)  :)

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the following ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Then, in a separate electric stand mixer (or use an electric mixer by itself),
mix the following ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I substituted this for 1/2 cup applesauce)
1 large egg
2 tsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract

Once these ingredients are mixed well, slowly combine the dry ingredients
into the wet ingredients until well incorporated.

Then, fold in 1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I used a tablespoon to portion out the dough onto a silpat (or parchment paper)
and place in a 350 degree F oven for 12-14 minutes.

Mmmmm-mmmm-mmmm!!  A little bite of chocolatey, pumpkin spicy
goodness.  They are a little bit on the thick side, but they're incredibly
moist and delicious.  They're best served warm so that the chocolate chips
get nice and melted.  A delicious accompaniment to a cup of coffee or tea
on a cold fall morning.  

Our boys love a good dance party.  This afternoon I was playing
Marvin Gaye's Got to Give it Up.  As soon as the boys heard it,
they immediately started dancing.
Alexander has watched me doing yoga in the mornings...I think in
the middle of the dance party, he was inspired to do some yoga.
HA!  What a funny guy.

Then, shortly after that, the boys started playing the piano together.
It was very sweet.

Okay...one more recipe that's quick and easy.  I did the prep (which took about 5 minutes), walked the dog, finished up the rest of the preparation (~8 minutes), and snuggled with my boys on the couch while these were cooking.  These are "eggplant pizzas" that are a delicious and light version of an eggplant parmesan that's ready in a fraction of the time.

Slice the eggplant into 3/4 inch thick rounds, lay them on top of
some paper towel, and sprinkle them with salt.  (This will help get some
of the natural water out.)  Let these sit for ~20 minutes.

Blot the eggplants dry and remove a bit of the excess salt.

Brush the tops with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt,
pepper, and Italian seasoning.

Place in a 375 degree F oven for 25 minutes.

Look at these beauties after roasting!

After 25 minutes, take the eggplants out, and spoon an even, small layer
(~1-2 tbsp) of non-fat ricotta cheese, then top that with your favorite marinara-
sauce, freshly chopped basil, and parmesan cheese.

Put the eggplants under the broiler on HI just until the cheese has melted.

These were lip-smacking good!  Like I said before, they tasted like
a lighter version of eggplant parmesan and was prepared in a fraction
of the time.
These would be really great served alongside some grilled chicken
and a small arugala salad.

The cold weather is starting to sneak up on us!  The weather man said the other day that if we had gardens, to harvest them now before the frost came.  I know absolutely nothing about gardening (other than you take the plant and put it in the ground and water it occasionally), so I took the weatherman's warning to heart and had Alexander and Joseph help me gather the rest of our harvest from our garden.

Alexander was very excited to get our tomatoes and peppers.
He really loved our garden.

We harvested quite a bit!  We got about 20 cherry tomatoes,
8 green beefsteak tomatoes, and 4 snacking peppers.
A pretty good haul, considering we didn't expect much from it in the beginning!

Alexander being silly.

Alexander running with Oscar in a local park.
This was pretty cool to see Alexander interact with Oscar
like this, since he really hasn't done this before.

Ugh!  I LOVE those dimples!

I swear, Facebook is such a great place to see what everyone else is doing with their families.  I get so much inspiration from what others that I know are doing and am so fortunate that Massachusetts is filled with lots of fun things to do and places to go.  

My friend Suzie recently took pictures of her family at a place called Kimball Farms in Westford, MA.  The place looked like so much fun, that I couldn't resist, and had to take the guys there one weekend.  Joseph miraculously had one day off that weekend and was able to join us!  It was so great to do something as a family and share our "adventure" with Joseph since he misses out on so much while he's working.  This place was pretty awesome and had SO many activities that we didn't get to everything that morning.

Alexander riding on a pony.

After the pony ride, Joseph and Alexander
checked out the goats.  Joseph got
this perfect snapshot of a goat, cheezing for the camera.

One of our favorite places, Animal Adventures in Bolton, MA, had a tent that featured an animal show with animals from their zoo.  We couldn't resist!

Look at this gigantic bullfrog!!  It's body is
practically as big as Alexander's head!

Here's Alexander with some other children
holding a large snake.

After the animal show, we ventured to the bumper boats area.  William and I watched from the deck above as Joseph and Alexander zoomed around in the bumper boats.

Me and the boys :)

Joseph and Alexander in the bumper boats.

William liked watching the bumper boats.

At lunch, William enjoyed his first taste
of clam strips.  He loooved them!

Hey guys! :)

Since the line for the putt putt golf was too long, we decided to head to the arcade for a little bit before we went home.

Joseph had fun playing ski ball and other
games with Alexander.

Alexander got a little squishy water snake as a prize
for all of the points that he accrued at the arcade.

Another thing that Kimball Farms is known for is its homemade ice cream.  Their ice cream was incredible but the portions were ridiculously huge!  Their "single" ice cream scoop would have been enough for me, Joseph, AND Alexander to eat off of.  Unfortunately, we didn't know that and got Alexander a soft serve chocolate ice cream, and another ice cream to share.  We were swimming in ice cream.

Joseph helping Alexander eat his ice cream.  There
was just SO much.  If we didn't live so far away,
it wouldn't have been a problem to bring it home.

Me and my ridiculously huge ice cream cone.
It was a "Malted Moo Chocolate" and it was amazing.

This was a tough month and I'm glad it's over.  We had a lot of adventures but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it.  It was nice to finally share an outing with Joseph and get in some quality family time.  I look forward to this coming month when his schedule is a little bit better.  

I can't WAIT for fall weather.  It's my absolute favorite time of year.  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki