Mommy's Back to School Shopping

I am so thankful for a husband who believes that the teaching Momma needs supplies too.  So in addition to the crayons, markers, notebooks, and gym shoes, I got some things too!


Nick bought me this cup at the Henry Ford Museum.  I  really do love history so this is the absolute best mug for me.  It was the last one and I was over the moon to be able to snatch it up!  I still can't tell if Nick got it for me to tease me or not, but I love it either way.

He also treated me to these beauties!  They are  Crocs!  So comfy!  I love that I can wear them with jeans and only the toes show and they just look like shoes.  But they are cozy and light enough to just wear around the house.  Perfect for me staying home and running out around town.  Plus they are the navy and pink I love!  

Last but not least I wore my new necklace Nick bought for me on our Anniversary trip.  It's a bubble necklace and I love it!  The colors are all the jewel tones of fall!  

So those were the things I looked forward to yesterday on our first day of school...it was hard to get up at 4 in the morning!  But it was worth it to get myself around, get dinner in the crockpot, laundry in the machine, and feel ready to go by the time I had to wake the littles.  

A Perfect Autumn Afternoon

Isn't it nice on those rare days when the stars align and you somehow find yourself in the ideal situation: a house full of new books to explore, a quiet afternoon to relax, and a fresh pot of coffee all to yourself.  

I think that is just about the closest thing to heaven.  

 Fresh from the library, I managed to coerce the children to read quietly while I flew through the adult section, frantically throwing books into my library bags...these are what I managed to come away with.  I threw my coffee in there for effect...you want to be here with me, don't you?  Snuggling under down comforters on either end of the couch and showing each other neat-o ideas we find in the books.  So fun!  Come on over...

 I've gotta tell 'ya, I am not much of a fiction reader.  I absolutely adore The Mitford Series and read those repeatedly.  Other than that I am not too much into the stories.  I seem to find myself gravitating to books on organizing, cleaning, cooking, and all things Christmas.

 This is one of the books that I absolutely adore.  It's "The Farm Chick's Christmas".  You can check it out here.    The book has so many ideas for decorating and cooking and gift giving.  And the pictures are gorgeous.  It's just fun, ya know?

 Here are some of the pictures...

 And this one...this looks like the easiest thing in the world but so stinkin' cute.

 And an old typewriter with a festive Christmas message.  See?  It's so fun!  Go out and buy this book!  Borrow it from your local library...do something to get this book!!!!

Can't wait to crack this book open.  Those are cake pops on the front...how adorable do those look?

So that's how I'll be spending the afternoon.  I hope you can find some time to sneak away and enjoy a yummy cup of coffee and a stack of good books.

Happy Halloween!

Well here we are, on the other side of Halloween! 

Hope you all had a great time!  I know our kiddos did.  My parents came over and went trick or treating with us in our neighborhood.  Living in a historic district it is so much fun to go to the old houses and beg for candy.  Half way through our jaunt my mom said "it's like we're on a movie set!"  and it really does feel that way.  You could be trick or treating in the 1950's and it would be the same. 

This year I dressed the kids as Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski from the famed show Saved by the Bell that aired in the 80's and 90's.  How cute are they? 

 Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba...Bayside!

 He heart's big phones :)

 Emma was cool being a cheerleader but Cal had no idea who he was supposed to be.  So half way through I told him his phone shoots lasers at people...so here he is shooting everyone and everything...then he liked it. 

And just so you don't think I am a horrible mother, I did let them dress up how they wanted.  Here are is our little Tinker Bell and our little Spiderman.  Halloween was about the 3rd time we had dressed up so I thought it was okay to have two different sets of costumes this year..we may do it every year just to make each time different and special rather than "okay you know the drill, costume back on!" 

Hope you all had a great time with your little ones!  We now have a bowl full of candy on the counter which is very tempting :)

Weekend Amazingness

Well this past weekend I can't say that we did anything spectacular.  Except one thing...

we got to love on Nick! 

Friday was the start of a three day weekend for him and we had so much fun with him!  It was his first day off in a month...no weekends off, and he's gone about 15 hours a day so when he does get home there's not much time for him to do much of anything other than eat dinner, shower, and go to bed. 

It was wonderful having our family all back together.  And kind of funny.  Nick hasn't been around so much that he kept trying to get the kids down for a nap (who don't take naps anymore), sending the kids up to their rooms with toys that we now keep downstairs, and trying to get them to watch programs we don't watch.  So funny.  I can't imagine what it would be like having a husband deployed or something...

We visited a lot of amish, went on a field trip, went to church, our zoo's halloween festivities, carved pumpkins, and laughed a lot. 

It was so wonderful.  We are so blessed.  Nick Sunday at dinner told us thank you for such a great weekend. 

But it's us that should be telling him Thank You. 

I'm sure there are so many guys who wouldn't be home on their first days off.

They'd be at the golf course.
Or a buddy's house.
Or a bar. 

But not Nick.  Nope.  He has no where else he'd rather be than at home with us.  With our messes and our tantrums, our loud playing, and our sword fights. 

And that to me, is amazing. 


Sidenote: I have pictures somewhere on my camera...goal today is to find camera :)

Little Pumpkins

As mentioned in my previous post, Emma and I have been sick.   Well yesterday (Saturday) I was still sick but I was determined to not spoil our plans.  Nick took the day off and we had so much planned I was a little worried about getting it all done and having it still be a fun day.  I mean, at what point does running errands on a beautiful Fall day stop being fun and simply become checking things off of your list of "to-dos"?

Well I shouldn't have worried because we had such a wonderful time together!  We started the day super early...we were out the door without any breakfast.  We stopped at this Italian bakery in our neighoborhood for doughnuts and coffee and then made the drive to a tiny town south of us that has a great butcher.

Since we were down there we made a drive to Nick's hometown to another store with great cheeses and bulk baking items.  We stocked up on things we need.  I love the fact that we live in a metropolis area but can drive 10 minutes in any direction and be in the country.   LOVE that.  I also love that we live so close to the Amish folks and can take advantage of their wonderful baked goods, produce, and meats. 

Anyway, we FLEW home, changed clothes and then it was off to a fashion show Emma was a model in.  After that it was time for some shopping, lunch out, a trip to a Nursey for mums (I heart Mums so much!), and then onto Pumpkin Picking!

While Pumpkin picking we had a great time but it was so weird!  It was 82 degrees out...Nick was in Birkenstocks for crying out loud!  Usually we're wearing gloves!  It was a weird day, and while picking pumpkins we had a Stealth Bomber circling overhead for the football game going on.  It was kind of weird but neat all at the same time!  :)

If you'll remember apple picking pictures the children were enamored by the wagon and as you can see here, they still love the wagon!  Apparently they have a system where Emma pulls, Cal pushes.  They fell into their positions quickly. 

 Emma found her pumpkin quickly and how cute is she?  I just love her to death!

 Here's Cal's...his isn't that heavy but he just could not figure out how to hold it...Nick's teaching him how.  Cute!

 These little pumpkins made Emma's day...she thought they were sooo cute!  They were 3/$1 so Nick told them each to pick 3.  Well Emma did quickly and Cal only had one.  He kept saying "I only have one" so Nick kept trying to help him pick 2 more out.  Finally Cal declared "I only have one because I only need one!"  Oh!  Now we get it.  I love that Cal doesn't like excess.  And sometimes he's confusing but when he let's us into how his minds working and what he's thinking it makes so much sense to us.  Nick just said "okay, that's cool" and we were done.  It's times like those that I love when he tells us what's going on in his mind. 

Here's our shopping trip.  I got pumpkins to stack so I'll have to take a picture of that when I'm done. 

So that was our day yesterday!  We came home, made dinner of burgers, brats, green beans, and pierogis, ate dinner, and collectively crashed on the couch to watch Gnomeo and Juliet.  It was a full day.  It was a gorgeous day.  It was a wondrful day. 

Happy Lord's Day! 

Salted Caramel Mocha Latte

Thanks, MomAdvice!

I would like to introduce you to the website of Mom Advice!  Mom Advice is Amy Clark's blog and while I've never met her (I saw her in Target once!), I consider her a friend.  Yep, that makes me sound like a weirdo stalker but I'm not I promise! 

I just consider Amy a friend because 1) we share a butt load of friends, 2) we live super close to one another (again, not a stalker, promise!), and 3) I've been reading her blog since the day when she was journaling about their journey out of debt long ago. 

Anywho, Amy does this crazy awesome thing in which she gets super high on caffeine in the process of copy-cating Starbucks' coffee specials.  The one she has put together this time is the Salted Caramel Mocha Latte.

The kids were good today, I managed to get out of bed at the correct time (it's the little things, right?) and so I thought I would treat myself so I followed her recipe jobby and made this. 

One word...amazing!!! 

The only thing I didn't have though was Caramel Syrup but I did have some weird Caramel Cinnamon (or Vanilla?) creamer so I used that.  I was a happy camper. 

Here is my reasoning for making these at home: I don't have the luxury of having a Starbucks right down the street...close it is, but I just hate schlepping the kids out to get myself a coffee.  Also the last Starbucks coffee I had was horrible!!!  I can't even tell you how bad it was.  Bleh.  Thirdly, I always feel bad buying coffee.  It's 5.08 for the pumpkin spick dealy and I don't make the money around here so I always just feel bad.  Sometimes I even call Nick and ask permission in which he acts like I'm this huge waste of space and time and tells me, yes for God's Sake just get the stupid drink. 

Okay then.

So now I can make them at home and everything will be right in the world.  Birds are singing, angels are all aflutter.  Ah, it's a beautiful thing. 

So click on one of the many links I've snuck in here to get the recipe yourself or click here to get it.  Just know that I couldn't get the exact recipe's link to work so if this doesn't take you to it just explore her blog until you find it.  It will be worth your time! 

A Tour of Our Autumn Loveliness

Thank you readers for keeping me accountable and on track with the whole idea of decorating.  Yesterday afternoon I was lounging around the house during naptime, trying not to fall asleep and wondering what house work I could do that would not disturb the children when I suddenly remembered decorating...I had told ya'll I would finish decorating and post pictures. 

So away I went.  In fact I was still at it when Emma came down from quiet time, so she was thrilled to help as well.  Here are some of the decorations...

 It's all about simplicity here.  I filled a bowl full of apples.  I am still so busy with apples, so these few can do a good job of sitting and looking pretty for the time being. 

 This is the newest member of our family.  Do you like?  Our neighbors gave it to us!  Can you believe the rocking awesome neighbors we have?  Nothing like having  neighbors who you feel are like a fill in set of parents and friends all at the same time.  They are such wonderful, wonderful people and we are so blessed by them!  Anyway, I really want to decorate the dern thing but can't come up with anything...any ideas? 

Ah, my little Hallmark sign and some pumpkins.  The sign sits on the buffet which is the perfect size for a five year old to add some pumpkin candles!

 Alright I left out the best part of this picture...the tv right above the cut off.  Here is my mantle this year/so far/I give up.  It's lame.  Emma added leaves.  Which are dead.  D.E.A.D. But she REALLY wanted to add them.  I want height, flare, pizazz, but again, ginormous television about it kind of prevents from having huge cornucopias or anything...I'm still working on this.  I think I may have to go shopping for some inspiration! Do they sell inspiration?

Here's the center of my mantle, again...LAME!!!  I'm working on it.  This is by no means the finished product.  I'm just going to keep telling myself that. 

 Here is my centerpiece on the dining room table.  Simple.  Is this lame that I used a wreath as a candle ring?  Let's call it inventive!

Giant candle...I have fun with thing adding things in around the candle...candies, sand, shells, it goes on and on.  This sits in a window between the blue room and the fireplace alcove in our living room, which I realize makes absolutely no sense if you've never been to our house and perfect sense if you have.  One of my best friends, Elizabeth, who has in fact never been to my home (hi!!!!) said she really wants to see it because she has this idea of what it is...so come on up!!!  We'll go shopping!!! 

Anyway I have a HORRIBLE confession to make to you...I had to scrape, scrape!, conversation hearts out of the bottom of this thing to get the pinecones and pumpkins in.  Yep, you heard it here first folks, I had left that thing sit since Valentine's Day with the same thing in it.  And do you know what the mortifying thing is?  It's in the center of our home. Not tucked away in storage or anything, nope, right there for God and everyone to see that I am some kind of moron who got used to looking at the gross nasty candy.  But that will just be our little secret so, shhhhh!

Here is the mirror in our entry way.  Hi mirror!  That's the top of my twinkly light tree in case you are wondering there on the right. 

 Here's my front door wreath.  Kind of proud of this thing because there's a story behind it.  My Grandma (whom I love dearly) makes wreathes, bless her heart.  Well since I had a purple bedroom when I was, oh about six years old, every wreath I get has purple roses.  Big, plump, lacivious looking roses.

Well anywho when we moved back home from Indianapolis she wanted to make me a wreath for my door.  I summoned all the courage in the world to tell her I had a different idea for a wreath...one with Fall colors since we moved in in September, and I gave her a picture of one like this. 

And she made it for me.  As far as I know I'm one of the only people to ever get a wreath with no flowers on it.  She thought it was ugly but said if that's what I want she'll make it.  I think it's just grand. 

And finally here's my pilgrim lady on the foyer table.  Hi pilgrim lady!  Her hat makes her look like a WWII nurse, but that's totally beside the point...and if you look REALLY  close you'll see that she has boots accompanying her at the bottom. 

So there's my tour...whew! I'm pooped...see yourselves out will ya?  :)

Decorating for Fall

This year I thought I was being pretty good about the decorating.  The week after Labor Day Nick schlepped the bins down for us and Emma and I got to it. 

But as life sometimes does, it got crazy, and for the past few weeks the two bins have been stacked together and the end of the couch, making for some weird collegy concoction of a coffee table. 

Today however I am vowing to get the Fall decorations put out once and for all.  I have so much stuff and a blank mantle right now, so there is no reason to do some decorating, there, if no where else. 

I browsed the internet this morning for some inspiration. Isn't that just the best thing?  So many creative ladies at the simple move of my fingertips...heavenly! 

Some of my favorites are below.  And I am making this promise to you...I will post pictures of my fall decor tomorrow...and it will be around the house, not just in a bin! 

I love the banner...not sure if I have enough creativity in me to make one but I have the "drive" to make it to Hobby Lobby :) 

I am in love with the twinkly lights!  We have twinkly lights for Christmas time outside but I am in love with this...What is that plant?  Wisteria?  Some neighbors down the way have wisteria like that with twinkly lights and I LOVE it!

Nothing is better than big, huge mums inviting you into someone's home. 

Happy Friday ya'll!  Have a great last day of the week!

Free Fall Printables

A Huge, Pumpkiny Spiced thank you to Myra at My Blessed Life for posting 12 free Fall Printables!  I LOVE printables!  Mainly because I can't design anything to save my life.  Period.  I mean, if you were to put a gun to my head and make me come up with something it would look like something off of Windows 95 and would have the creativity of a four year old. 

But anyway, I also love printables because I am a stay at home mom who doesn't have a lot of money to refresh my home decor as often as I would like.  The printables allow me to swap out frames with cute, seasony things from time to time.  They make me smile and so grateful for them. 

Anyway, you can click here to go and print some of your own. 

Fore!

Nick took the kids to the park by our house to teach them to golf.  The kids have been begging him to teach them for, like, totally forever. He didn't want to have them hogging the golf course somewhere so I suggested the park. 

Like, duh dude. 

The kids both seemed to really enjoy it. 

Cal liked it but had a hard time positioning his hands (gee, like he doesn't do that with every other thing he does).   It will be good for him to practice.  Well, the hands and how to NOT try to hit everyone in the face with the club/stick thingy. 

I love her little foot... :)

We made her carry the bag home...isn't she just so cute?

Nick really wants to get Cal into sports of SOME TYPE so he suggested golf...no other people you are trying to watch out of the corner of your eye while your brains telling you to intercept something, something and block, and grab and...We thought that was just too much for him right now.

So like I said the kids really enjoyed it.  And seeing how Nick is crazy good at golf, he enjoyed teaching them as well.  This is something we will definitely be doing more of. 

That is, if it ever stops raining here.  It's been a werid rain in that it has been raining pretty consistently for the past 4 days but there are no puddles anywhere.  We must have needed the rain. 

Well, pray for us.   Cal starts soccer tomorrow :)

Apples to Apples

Apple picking is one of the highlights of the year for us.

This girl is ready to go!  She grabbed the wagon on her own and hightailed it out of there.

Here we are!  Aren't they cute?

Bucket heads!

They are so cute...I just can't get over how cute they are!

Here's Emma's first apple

Here's Cal's first apple

Okay this is so cute!  I love these series of photos...while Nick and I were picking apples, you know, the actual work, they kids took the wagon up the hill in the background and then would come back down...

They would go up....push and pull, push and pull.

And then they would come tumbling down the hill like Jack and Jill...sometimes quite literally! Nick and I just held one another and listened to their squeals and watched them.  I praise God that they are able to live perfect childhoods...what a gift He has given them.

Here's Emma's basket!

Here we are almost reado to go.  We had one more basket too but we couldn't get it to fit...50 pounds of apples folks makes for one happy Mommy :)

Yummy!

Check out the size of these apples!  They are huge!