{MM} My 7th vegan-versary + lots of apple recipes

take a long romantic walk take a nap tomorrowThis weeks fave life pins–these thoughts seem to encapsulate my current pregnant existence.

both images repinned from two penny blue (top image originally from slufoot tumblr)

 

 

Happy {Marvelous} Monday.

♥ I don’t know why I always naively assume that the weekends will be a time of calm, cleaning, napping, that sort of delicious stuff. Instead it’s usually jam packed with activities & get togethers.

This weekend was Asher’s 7 birthday (marking my “real” 7th vegan-versary!).

We had soccer games, kids painted pumpkins, took them to a Halloween event at the botanical gardens, had a “mini-birthday” party, & had some friends over for dinner yesterday.

We decided to only do “big” birthday parties for each child, every other birthday. This year was a non-birthday party year for Asher. He invited two friends over, they played, we made pizzas & breadsticks, & they got to watch a movie. Low-key, frugal, & Asher didn’t know any difference from last year when we had decorations, a pinata & 15 guests.

asher-soccer-game-me

soccer-game

♥ This year for Halloween we spent a total of $20.

$8 for the candy we took to our church’s trunk-or-treating event.
$12 for pumpkins.
$0 on costumes & bags (see below on our costume choices).

(for some last-minute, easy/frugal costume inspiration, check out Melanie’s ideas, here & here.)

kids-painting

kids-painting-2

salem-and-pumpkins

kids-painting-with-apples

Painting with apples at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens Halloween event for kids. We have a family yearly pass ($60), so the event was free.

Amalia reused her Alice in Wonderland costume from last year (that was a hand-me down from a cousin). Doesn’t she look like Alice?

mali-may

Salem is a pirate. It’s a hand me down from the boys. When asked whether she wanted to be a princess or a pirate, she fittingly, chose pirate.

(Side note: I made a “Harry Potter” wizard cape for Hyrum, & Asher is a superhero–using a cape my mom made for him.)

salem-pirate

More good stuff:

♥ I love Meta’s clean, bright style

cleansing recipes for fall

to pin:
all recipes are vegan & gluten-free (unless indicated)

lots of apple recipes–
sugar-free caramel apples
apple cinnamon chips
skillet blueberry apple crisp
how to use cinnamon sticks

soft pumpkin cake with pumpkin spice buttercream frosting
(not gluten-free)

sweet potato jack-o-lanterns
thai sweet potato veggie burgers w/ spicy peanut sauce

fruit & veggie smoothie leathers

snicker cups

cleansing autumn soup

Thanks for your comments on last week’s post on pornography. Laura’s comment hit me as a particularly important one. Check them out here, & add your thoughts.

Also, chocoholics, if you missed my best of chocolate post, see it here.

Coming up for tomorrow’s Frugal Tuesdays post: entertainment on a shoestring–how to save on entertainment & some of my top picks in movies, tv shows, books, magazines, & podcasts.

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