The rest of Fall break

Well I had good intentions with my Fall break posts.  Obviously those intentions didn't mean squat though because Fall break was nearly two months ago and I didn't make it past Day 3.  That said, let me quickly summarize the rest of the week.

The kids went to the dentist!  This was Ryan's second time having his teeth cleaned.  The first time he had it done was in April, and it was after watching Chloe have her teeth cleaned and deciding that he wanted to give it a try too.  Both kids did awesome and neither had cavities!  Always good news!







After their cleanings, the office staff took the kids back to a special room containing a treasure box where each was able to choose something to take home.  Um, can we say generous?  Chloe left with a 20-pack of markers and Ryan with a race car!  They don't mess around!  Between their treasures and goodie bags containing new toothbrushes, floss, stickers and a pencil, they were in absolute heaven.



On our way home we stopped at the mall to cash in a coupon I had for a free candle at the new Yankee Candle store.  Naturally everyone was hungry by this point, so what did the kids get?  A cinnamon/sugar pretzel!  Yep, that was their lunch - straight from the dentist's office!  Where's my super mom award?



We took it easy at home that afternoon.  Ryan astonished us by taking a nap, and Chloe played quietly in her room.  At one point she did a puppet show for me...

...which prompted a Christmas present idea.  That's right.  Neil's building Chloe a puppet theater for Christmas!  She loves doing puppet shows or any kind of performing for that matter, so this is really perfect.  We went to IKEA today and bought some new hand puppets to go with the theater.  I can't wait to see the look on her face come Christmas morning!

As soon as Ryan woke up he wandered into Chloe's room to see what we were up to.  I took a few more pictures.

Here they are watching Chloe's puppet show I'd just recorded a few minutes earlier.

I miss lazy afternoons like these.  We don't have them too often anymore.

The following day, the kids made an Autumn window display.  It was super easy and a huge hit!  Original source: HERE.  I'm pretty sure this will become an annual Fall craft tradition at our house.  We all loved it.  In fact, it's still up on our door!  Probably time to take it down.

Who knew coffee filters and water colors could be so entertaining?

While we had originally planned to cut out leaves, Chloe decided snowflakes would be fun as well!

Waiting for the painted coffee filters to finish drying.

The finished product!

 It was a fun-filled week.  I enjoyed not having to set an alarm and just being on a more relaxed schedule.  The kids liked it too.  Less stress, and more time to play.  Now with the Christmas season upon us, we have another break just around the corner.  I can hardly wait!

Day 3: Count Chocula, the park and more paint

Day 3 was another fun one.  We kept busy but weren't on a schedule, which was perfect.  The kids got up like normal, stumbled down the stairs in their jammies and headed straight for the pantry in search of food.  On this particular morning, they were presented with a new breakfast option!  That's right!  One of the treats I snuck in the cart at Target the day prior was a box of Count Chocula, a cereal only available during the Halloween season, which Neil had recently mentioned remembering and loving as a kid.  Chloe and Ryan were so intrigued by this mysterious box and eager to try it out.

And guess what?  They both approved!

Shortly after breakfast, my friend, Janea invited us and a couple other friends to meet at the park.  Since it was a beautiful day and we had nothing to do, it was a no-brainer.  So a couple hours later, we packed a lunch and headed to Stouffer park.  We were there for a solid two and a half hours, possibly longer.  The kids played on the playground together, took occasional bites of their lunch and even tossed a frisbee around. They had fun, and I enjoyed a nice visit with Janea and Misty. 

When we got home, we headed right back outside to find some leaves for "Day 3's activity."  Then we came inside and proceeded to make "leaf people."  Chloe was excited about it, but Ryan showed no interest, and instead, painted this picture.

Chloe was initially excited by the idea of incorporating leaves into her creation, but quickly grew frustrated when the leaves weren't sticking well to the paper.  She did manage to finish one "leaf person," but then moved onto something else.

She was definitely more proud of this one right here!  I love all the colors and detail.

Another fun day!  And best of all, both kids went to bed early and without a fight!

Day 2: Fall Handprint Trees

Day 2's morning and early afternoon consisted of cleaning and errand running.  Not too exciting or festive.  I kept promising the kids that if they were good and did what I asked that we would do a fun craft activity involving messy hands after ballet.  I'm not sure they kept their end of the bargain, but they did try.  After lunch we headed out the door to run errands, the last of which included a trip to Target.  After grabbing what we needed there, we rushed to ballet.  After that, we went to Qdoba with Tami, Misty, Lorilee and their girls (all of whom are in Chloe's ballet class - still need to blog about that!). Tami's husband, Toby and Neil work together. Toby's in trauma and Neil spine, but over the last few weeks Neil has been helping out the trauma team due to another employee going on unexpected medical leave. Needless to say, we've seen a lot less of him lately, and "Day 2" was no exception.  Because he wasn't going to be home until late, we joined the girls for dinner and by the time we got home it was close to 6. Chloe, who had not forgotten about the promised activity of the day, was nagging me like crazy all the way home, so eager to get started, that upon pulling into the garage, she jumped out of the car and yanked all the groceries out of the trunk herself!

Not two minutes after walking through the door, both kids were sitting at the table, decked out in their Ikea art smocks.  While I really wanted to get things put away and just have a moment to sit before diving into a new task, I felt bad making the kids wait any longer.  And so the Target bags sat, and out came to the paint!

The finished products!

These cute little handprint trees were inspired by this. They didn't turn out quite the same but I suppose that's what makes such creations unique and special.  About five minutes after Chloe had finished hers, Ryan decided it was missing something, and proceeded to apply a few strokes of purple paint.  Thankfully I snapped the above picture of her holding the original masterpiece prior to its demolition.

While Chloe was displeased (I would be too!!), she quickly snapped out of it as she had already moved on to another picture containing happy faces.  After that she drew an alien with three eyes, four arms and four ears!  Such a creative little thing she is!

Ryan also came up with a couple other creations, and while I had to closely monitor to ensure he was limiting his brush strokes to paper, I think we all had a really good time.

Day 3 is in the works, so stay tuned!

Fall break: Day 1

Chloe is on Fall break this week.  I have really been looking forward to this for a while.  After all, I don't get to hang out with my girl nearly as often as I used to.  Now tack on the joys of no alarm to set, no morning and afternoon school grounds traffic to deal with, no homework to help with, no lunches to prepare, and no library books to remember, and I'd say it's been a pretty nice week!  I put together a list of fun activities and crafts to occupy the kids during the week and have so far managed to incorporate one thing into each day's agenda.  Here's what we did on Day 1 (Monday).

Day 1: Dell 'Osso Farms

This is the second year we've been able to enjoy this pumpkin patch (here's last year's outing). It's about 20 minutes from our house and a really great place to go with your family to get into the spirit of Fall. They truly offer everything a pumpkin patch should. This was actually our second trip there this month. I took the kids two Saturdays ago with my cousin, Heather and her son, JD. It was a complete madhouse, and while we were there for at least three hours, we spent the majority of that time standing in lines. Ryan had had a fever earlier that morning, which broke a couple hours before we headed out, but spiked again the last 30 or so minutes we were there, so of course he was miserable almost the entire time. It just wasn't a great day to go, so I promised the kids we'd go back on a weekday when there weren't crowds. Monday was truly perfect. We got there at 11 and practically had the place to ourselves. We did the scarecrow ride, rode the train, jumped on the jumping pillows, took 74 pictures (29 of which are below), ate an enormous slice of pumpkin pie and picked out our very own pumpkins. It was just starting to get hot when we left, so we not only beat the crowds, but the heat too! It was a really fun outing with the kids. I wish Neil could have joined us but he had a crazy work day.

Anyway, here are those 29 pictures.  Go ahead and count.

Ryan tried so hard to be as tall as his sister.  Look at him on his tip toes reaching as high as he can.

The middle shot was taken just after we'd boarded the train.  As you can see he was a pretty happy kid.

When we first walked through the pumpkins, Ryan immediately spotted this one, picked it up and attempted to bring it to me.  It probably weighed what he weighed, which made my observation of the whole thing all the more precious.  He was truly huffing and puffing trying to lug that thing around.  I eventually convinced him to drop it, but naturally, Chloe had to have a turn.

It is getting more and more difficult to convince Ryan to look at the camera.  He is as stubborn as they come.

Jumping pillows!

These make me laugh.  The fact that Ryan wasn't quite tall enough to fit his entire face in the opening, not to mention that expression on his face!  Priceless.

A few fun close-ups.

That pumpkin pie was so good.  Bottom left photo - notice the sign behind Ryan?  I suppose he wasn't sitting but rather squatting, which the sign did NOT discourage.  So technically we didn't break any rules, right?

As soon as we got home, Ryan played on the floor with the pumpkins and squash we had picked up at Dell 'Osso.  At one point, after lining up four of the squash, he enthusiastically said, "Take a picture, mommy!"

So I did!  Cute kid.

And here, the pumpkins, which were thoughtfully chosen by Chloe and Ryan, now grace our front porch!

Day 1 was a good day.

What I loved about today

Waking up to happy children.

Fall weather, complete with a few evening raindrops.  Finally.

Chloe earning a RED at school.

Neil walking through the door in his cute blue scrubs after being away all night and a good part of today.

Pumpkins lining the grocery store front.

Overhearing Chloe in the bathroom with the door shut singing just loud enough for me to hear, "Bayba, bayba, bayba, ohhhhh; bayba, bayba, bayba, ohhhhh!" Apparently five isn't too young to have "Bieber fever."

These two.

Need I say more?

Watching the kids hang on monkey bars and hunt for dandelions at the park.

Chicken noodle soup simmering in the crock pot.

Chloe's enthusiasm while eating said soup: "Oh my goodness!  Mom!  Thank you!  It's not even yuck!  It's yum!"

Finishing off a pretty perfect day with a bag of kettle corn, two mugs of hot apple spice, the season premiere of my favorite show, and a husband with whom to share it all.

A solution to an indulgence

I really hate spending money on frivolous things.  And I especially hate the guilt that consumes me after I've given in and done it.  Food is the worst!  Do you ever find yourself out and about and pass that fast food restaurant that has your favorite such and such?  Or walking through the mall just long enough to catch a whiff of something that suddenly convinces you that whatever it is would really hit the spot?  You want it so badly, yet the pleasure only lasts as long as it takes to eat it.  And then you're $XX.XX poorer and feeling guilty that you gave into such an impulse.  Starbucks' Caramel Apple Spice is and has been my greatest weaknesses for months.  And especially this time of year when it flows with the season. 

Well, this morning I had a brilliant thought.  I actually have a lot of brilliant thoughts, but this just may have exceeded any brilliant thought I've ever had.  Rather than investing more mullah into this [ridiculously delicious] beverage, what if I just figured out how to make it myself?  Couldn't be too difficult, right?

RIGHT, actually! 

After checking around online, I found what looked like a legitimate recipe.  For anyone else who enjoys this stuff as much as I do, you know that warm cinammony taste of heaven I speak of.  And if you've attempted to make it yourself, you also know it's close to impossible.  Sure, any apple cider is good.  But there's a key ingredient that makes this stand above all the other apple ciders out there.  And until today, I didn't know what that ingredient was.

So are you ready?  Starbucks' very own Cinnamon Dolce Syrup.  I called the Starbucks here in Ripon to see if they sold it by the bottle, and you wouldn't believe it, but they do! 

So what did I do?  Well, I drove myself right over there and bought me some!

For only $7.95!

Here are the other ingredients needed to finish the job: 

Starbucks uses Tree Top Apple Juice, but Langers is what I had on hand.  I'm sure they also use their own special caramel sauce, but Smucker's does the trick just fine!  So for 1 cup apple juice, I added 3 teaspoons of cinnamon syrup.  Then on went the whipped cream, drizzled caramel sauce, and a perfect sprinkle of cinnamon.  It tastes EXACTLY like the real thing, but doesn't cost you the drive to Starbucks, time waiting in line, or 3 bucks out of your pocket.

Wanna come over and have some?

A Look Back: September 2009

I think we've established that time flies, but it seems like from September to December is the worst. Between the new school year, Halloween, Thanksgiving and finally, Christmas, life just gets insanely busy. Looking back it seems like the Holidays were just on top of each other last year. Perhaps that explains why I neglected my blog so much during those months (not that I've been much better since Christmas). Well, in attempt to catch things up, we're going to take a look back...

...starting with September!

First, let me just say we are big football fans in this house! Since I can remember, I've cheered for the 49ers, while Neil has cheered for LSU. Because he graduated from BYU, he's also a Cougar fan, but LSU is in his blood, and ultimately, his team. We support each other's fandom, and I'll have to say, while I grew up watching professional football, being married to Neil has really opened my heart to college football. For a few years we've talked about buying LSU gear for the whole family, but never have. Some fans we are, right? Well, in September, we finally made the plunge and did it.





While football is exciting and all, I'll have to say the highlight of September was my parents' visit. Since we moved to Colorado Springs in 2004, they have made it out at least once a year to see us.



Not sure I've known another grandma to be in as much love with these two as this Grandma is!
Okay, maybe Grandma Susie!





Ryan didn't know what to do with himself. Just the thought of Grandpa and Grandma coming for a visit had him exploding with excitement!




Grandpa took Chloe to the park every single day, sometimes more than once.


I was so happy to have captured this tender moment. Chloe and Ryan certainly love their Grandpa Roy.


We love you both! Thanks for coming!

And since we're talking September, I may as well throw this photo in too. Here's my brother, David with Neil and the kids at Cheyenne Mountain Resort, where David had a gig the last weekend in September. After his time there, he came and stayed with us for a couple days. I wish I'd taken more photos, but I guess I was just too excited to have him around to even think about it! We watched football, ate sushi, explored, and just had fun together! Chloe can never get enough of her Uncle D, and this visit proved to be like any other.



Here are a couple more random ones...


The kids entertaining each other before church


...And us on Logan's blessing day! One of my favorite family pictures to date.

So there you have it! September 2009!