BooShock!

Happy Halloween everyone! 

The Denneler Family went with "WSU Shockers" as a costume theme this year. Bea is a WSU Cheerleader, Gus is Wu Shock, Sandra is a 6-foot WSU foam finger, and Eric is a WSU fan. 

I'll cut Eric some slack on his lame costume because he worked so hard creating the Wu Shock head and the foam finger. He's been glueing, carving, flocking and painting a lot of foam for the last month. But all his hard work has paid off because these costumes turned out so fun. 

Go Shocks!

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie.

Today, Eric and I are celebrating 13 years of love & marriage. We've planned a simple evening at home with the kids - maybe some steaks on the grill, a bottle of wine, and for dessert: Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. (That was the "cake" we fed each other at our wedding reception.)

Every year on our anniversary, I like to go through the torture of trying on my wedding dress – just to see if I can justify eating another Swiss Cake Roll or if I need to go out and run a few more miles. It still "fits," but I wouldn't want to attempt the Chicken Dance in it. Not bad though, for 13 years and two kiddos later!

All my love and affection, Eric. You make 13 years easy.

How tall this Fall?

Eric and I love taking the kids to some kind of pumpkin patch every year. Last Sunday, we hit Prairie Pines Tree Farm for their "Pumpkin Days." Gus went through the inflatable haunted house multiple times, and Bea found herself swimming in a giant pile of baby pumpkins. She picked out her favorite and proceeded to carry it around for the next three days.

Wichita's best kept secret.

Eric and I were lucky enough to be two of the 118 people in Wichita Saturday night that got to see Joshua Radin in concert. He's a self-proclaimed "Whisper Rock" musician that I absolutely love. You may have heard his songs on shows like Scrubs, One Tree Hill or Grey's Anatomy. His music is a combination of Jack Johnson and Ingrid Michaelson.

Anyway, the concert was so hush-hush – no publicity, no mention in the paper, no nothin' – that only a handful of people even showed up. We'd heard about it from a friend who happened to see something on a Facebook post earlier in the week. It was such a great concert. So intimate. Just Joshua and his guitar on stage, in a tiny brick warehouse, under the Kellogg overpass. It was almost surreal, and we were lucky enough to witness it live. Afterwards, I even got my picture taken with him. I'm still blushing...

Punkin'-Eater

It's feeling more and more like Fall, so this weekend I decided to make our favorite, cool-weather cookie – Pumpkin Spice with Brown Butter Icing. Bea had a little tea party with them, licking off all the icing first, of course.

My friend, Lathi, shared this Martha Stewart recipe with me years ago and I just love everything about them. They're especially delicious with a cup of coffee. In fact, I think I'll make myself a hot beverage and have one right now. Yum.