My Weekend in Snapshots

Six snapshots that captured how we spent our weekend:

1. Saturday I got to spend a lovely few hours chatting with my good blogging friend, turned friend, turned hairstylist, Ashley, while she worked her hair wizard magic on me. We decided to stop fighting my natural hair colour and just work with it instead. To say I'm in love with my own hair would be an understatement.

{photo credit: Ashley}

2. I actually cooked a nice dinner on Saturday night. I usually save these kind of miracles for the weekdays, but I guess I was feeling particularly inspired that night. Chicken, tomato and white bean linguine was whipped up, hit the spot and has left us with leftovers for days. Recipe coming at you shortly.

3. Jim worked on touching up the walls in our house, which were pretty banged up when we moved in. No home project would be complete without this little foreman.

4. While the boys taped in preparation for painting, I took on the daunting task of organizing and decluttering this drop zone area. What a disaster. I didn't get very far, but it's my project for the week. Just keepin' it real over here.

5. I'm feeling unusually inspired this Halloween season and bought some craft supplies for some decorations I plan to whip up. Stay tuned!

6. We went to Costco today and these guys snuck their way into the cart. I'm one step closer to embracing cold weather running.

What was one highlight from your weekend? 

5 Halloween Board Books for Toddlers

I'm slowly starting to collect holiday themed books with the intent of pulling those books out only during that specific holiday (so Christmas books at Christmas time, Halloween books for Halloween, etc…). It keeps the stories fresh and exciting, and as Sully gets older and understands the methods behind my madness, something to look forward to.

While I already have a good stash of Christmas books piling up, I was really slacking in the Halloween department. So I started to do some research on popular Halloween books for toddlers and put in a huge request at the library. There are so many books out there and I hate to say it, but there's a lot of really bad books out there. My money is important I was not about to go ahead and purchase a bunch of new books without first test driving them.

It didn't take us long to get through the huge pile we took out from the library, and Sully made it pretty clear which ones he liked and which ones he did not. His favourites he would constantly bring to me during the day to read and I would often find him flipping through them on his own.

We're still heavy into the board book stage, so I stuck with only board books this year. They're short enough to keep his attention and they are pretty indestructible. Books with flaps to lift are also a huge hit with him, and while I find them a little boring, I really like the give and return they provide. I can ask him to point out other things on the page that I notice are consistent (like "where's the mouse" who happens to be hiding in each picture), and it makes the experience much more interactive.

So, that's the background on how I came up with this list. I chose our top 5 Halloween board books, based mostly on what my 20 month old is enjoying.

10 Trick-or-Treaters by Janet Schulman - Counting books that rhyme are a huge hit right now, and I lost track of how many times we read this one. There's also little things to ask your toddler to find and point out to you.

Halloween Jack by Roger Priddy - This was actually one of the first books that Sully really loved. I picked it up for a dollar at a second hand kids sale, and while I meant to stash it away, he was so enamoured by the laughing dracula on the last page that I didn't have the heart to pack it up. We easily still read this one daily.

One, Two…Boo! by Kristen L. Depken - In this book, you'll lift flaps as your count your way through the haunted house. A great introduction into all the spooky things that make up Halloween.

Where is Baby's Pumpkin? by Karen Katz - I'm sure everyone is familiar with this author's books, especially, Where is Baby's Belly Button?, and this book follows the same style, with flaps on every pages as the baby looks for her pumpkin and finds surprises along the way.

Five Little Pumpkins illustrated by Dan Yaccarino - a Halloween classic! I remember loving this one from my childhood so I was thrilled when it quickly became a favourite of Sully's too. It's impossible not to chant this rhyme about the rolling pumpkins.

What are some of your favourite Halloween books for children?

Caramel Apple Nachos

For years, and I do mean years, whenever I was asked to bring a dish to a potluck dinner, you could count on me to bring a 7-layer dip. But not a homemade one, a store bought one of course. On the off chance that I was asked to bring a desert, then I grabbed whatever looked delicious at the grocery store.

I think you could attribute this to equal parts laziness and wanting to play it safe. What if no one liked or ate what I went to all the trouble to make on my own? I'm not set up for that kind of humiliation. Everyone likes a 7-layer dip though.

In the last few years though, chalk it up to age, I guess, I've gotten much more adventurous in the pot-luck dinner contribution. And a little less lazy. Now, I find it fun to bring something new that I am actually proud to brag about having made on my own. I never take anything I've never tried out on my own family first though. I'm not THAT confident yet.

So where am I going with this? The key to bringing something fun and delicious to a pot-luck dinner is to have a small list of a few "tried and true" recipes. Simple ingredients, simple instructions and guaranteed to be hits.

Caramel Apple Nachos checks off all the boxes. And the best part is, it can pass as a fun appetizer OR a healthy(er) dessert option! Win, win!

Here's all you need:

Caramel Apple Nachos

4-5 Apples (I used Honeycrisp because they are my favourite, but they can be pricey.).
Lemon Juice
Chocolate Chips
Shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened - I prefer unsweetened)
Pecans, roughly chopped
Caramel Sauce


Slice your apples into thin, even slices.

Spread out apple slices onto a plate or platter, or even a shallow casserole dish.

Pour a little bit of lemon juice into a bowl and then brush all apple slices with it. This will prevent your apples from going brown before you even serve your dish. In all the times I've made this, the lemon juice was undetectable.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips, shredded coconut and chopped pecans evenly over the apple slices.

Drizzle caramel sauce all over.

Super easy and yummy! And the topping options are endless (there are about a million and one versions of this floating around the Internet). You can mix it up to suit what you have on hand or what you like. I made this one based on what taste combinations I prefer and what I already had in the pantry. Sully will not eat apples unless they are in sauce form, but one day, when he comes around to them, I see myself making this in mini portions as a fun snack or desert!

What's your go-to potluck dinner appetizer or dessert?