The Brothers Family

Happy Halloween from our little candy corn! This little costume was inspired by a very cute photo I saw last week. We originally weren't planning on dressing Julian up this year, but after we saw the idea online, it had to be done! There was no pattern so I made it up entirely as I went. I did follow this super simple pattern for the hat. Pretty fun.

(this moment) - A weekly ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

This guy is 18 weeks old today. He's rolling around the living room and giggling like crazy. He loves to stand and wants anything and everything he can get his hands on. XO, Meg

On Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch at Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield (we're members). It was a gorgeous day and we had a fun time picking pumpkins. We then went to a carving party with some friends. Photos from that night to come perhaps.

A while back, my friend Anisa posted this soup on her blog and it has become a family favorite for us so I thought I would pass it along. It is the perfect soup for a crisp autumn evening and has a nice amount of spice and great flavor. I have made a couple of modifications to it that we really like: I use only 1 jalapeno (2 if they are smallish in size), and we also add some turkey sausage to the soup when we want a meal with meat. Sometimes we make it without. Depends on the day. I also usually add a little extra balsamic vinegar. It's quick and delicious. Spicy Kale and Potato Soup 1 TB organic extra virgin olive oil 1 medium red onion, chopped 3 TB slivered garlic (about 9 cloves) 3 jalapeno peppers, minced 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, seeded and minced 1 1/2 pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise 1 1/4 tsps salt 2 bunches kale (24 oz), tough ends trimmed, finely shredded (about 20 cups loosely packed) 1 can (8 oz) no-salt-added

Celebrating with a slice of Dustin's favorite cheesecake tonight. He received a promotion at work today! I am so proud of how hard he works to support our family and so thrilled that he has a job that he loves. Hooray, Dustin! We love you! XO, Meg

(this moment) - A weekly ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

We are loving our cloth diapers. It's so nice to have soft cloth next to Julian's skin and our washing routine is simple and going smoothly. And they couldn't be any cuter.

My family makes famous chocolate chip cookies (I'm not sure who considers them famous, but we've always called them our famous family recipe cookies). We grew up on the exact same recipe my whole life. So here's fair warning to my beloved family: this is not that recipe. I know, you might think I'm a trader. But hear me out. These are in a whole different category - no oats, no nuts. Just chocolate chip cookies at their purest. And trust me, they are amazing (thus my reason for sharing the recipe with you here). I found the original recipe here and made a slight adjustment, but believe me, they are simple to make and amazingly delicious to eat - cakey and moist and soft, mmm. My change from the original recipe below in parenthesis. I believe the magic happens in the melted and cooled butter. It's not creamed in the beginning, just combined. I was hesitant to do so, but it totally worked and makes for a very delicious outcome. On the original cookie post, she mentio