Merry Christmas and Other Things

Hey! Here is our Christmas Card (because, it's still Christmas yes?)

We are back from our travels! Our holiday was spent very merrily and we all had a really great time.

There were crafts!

And presents!

C got the marble run he has been talking about since March! (Seriously, he's had it on his Christmas list since March. Before his birthday even!) 

M got the soccer ball she didn't ask for specifically but I knew she wanted. She loves it. She's been dribbling around the house and scoring goals ever since. 

And outside fun!

Sledding in the backyard. It snowed. Then sleeted. So the snow had a layer of ice on it. Which made for SUPER fast sledding. C weighs just the exact right amount where he didn't break the ice but was able to have great velocity and speed. Typically when we sled in my parent's yard it's down the big hill but he was going too fast so we went down the smallest little incline and he was still  speeding along and went really, really far! 

Our Christmas was also filled with fun, food, family, escape rooms, games, friends and Jesus. Now we are home and looking forward to what 2017 brings us!

It's Time to Party!

Today was C's last day of school for the year! Hello Christmas vacation!! So, we of course are celebrating! First off, everyone who was home took a nap during rest time. This does not happen very often but man it makes for a wonderful afternoon of not crabby people!

We spent the afternoon coloring the puzzle C got as a party favor at the "Happy Birthday Jesus" party they had at school. The fifth graders also came to their classroom and brought treat bags. Such an inexpensive thing that made a big impact. Now all he can talk about is going to the big school.

We also read through a big chunk of the books in the Christmas book basket. Including reading The Polar Express.

Husband brought Chinese food home for dinner and now we are all snuggled in for a movie night, watching The Polar Express obviously.

It's about the very best start to Christmas vacation I could imagine. Partying it up kid style. 

7QT of Pointlessness

one. Things I will never ever correct my kids saying:

• M: "Pet-za" for pizza.
• C: "Patter-rens" for patterns.

They are among my current favorite things. Every single day M loses one of her cutesie words and it just breaks my heart. I mean I know it's good she is progressing and building a great vocabulary but it's still hard.

two. Here's the thing, I love Growning Pains. I have a bunch of the seasons on DVD  and I just totally dig that show. In grad school, BJ Thomas came for a concert and he actually dedicated singing "As Long As We Got Each Other" to me. I am not kidding. (I'm pretty sure he also added it to the set list for me too.) So the passing of Alan Thicke saddens me greatly.

three. We watched Fuller House over the past week. I really enjoyed season one and I love Full House, but man, this season was rough. The majority of the episodes I felt like I was just losing brain cells, they were that dumb. But the last five or so episodes were really pretty good and I even got teary in the season finale. So... I grade the season a C? It is not must watch Netflix. Except the last few episodes. (And the cameo appearance of Alan Thicke was still dumb even in light of his death.)

four. We are getting a new couch sometime today! When we got married we bought a decent $300 couch and in the past year it has really been showing it's wear. Finally about two weeks ago some wire snapped or something and now it's really saggy. So we bought a new $300 couch! It has some improvements over the old couch. We figure if we get another six years, that'd be good. $50 a year is great. I see no reason to buy an expensive couch considering the age of our kids. Out of sheer curiosity, I looked online at the local rent-a-center and I couldn't rent a couch for cheaper than the new one!

five. I am almost done Christmas shopping. Normally I would be excited about that but this is really late for me and I am actually kind of stressed out about it. I decided to spread it out over many pay checks but I regret that. Next year I am going back to being done by Thanksgiving. Now to wrap. I am so bad at wrapping.

six. I know that this actually is the longest possible Advent but seriously this has been the longest Advent ever. I don't even know how we are still only on three candles!?

seven. We are expecting another storm (for the third weekend in a row...) but luckily Husband has the day off. So he took C to school and is taking M to art class. And then he is going to pick up C and go to the grocery store. I am on couch delivery duty. I am a little bit sad to miss art class but it's fun for M to get some special time with her dad. I get her to myself almost every morning so I can share.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Getting So Big!

Last Friday was the Preschool Christmas program.

God bless Catholic schools for have Christmas programs. I loved every. single. second of it. (Okay, maybe excluding the part where the principal started talking about Kindergarten round up.) It was awesome. My parents came down for it and it was just wonderful. The kids decorated the gathering hall with four different art projects and after the singing there was juice and cookies to enjoy. 

My guy did a pretty good job. I was so proud. And not that it's a contest, because it isn't, at all, but the morning preschool video has double the views, comments and likes over the afternoon class video. And probably, I myself am like 100 of those views. 

It's all going so fast. My guy got an invitation to a birthday party. And no one was more excited than I. Seriously, no one even came close to how excited I was. You see my biggest hope for him starting school was that he'd make friends. A birthday party invite certainly suggests to me that he is doing that. (And because it was an evite, I know for a fact this was not an invite the whole class party.) 

Did I mention that it was a party for twins? He really likes them and has talked about playing with them since the first week of school. So he was thrilled. He picked out the wrapping paper, bows and candy to go on top all by himself. 

He also wrote the names on the cards and signed his name all by himself. Which was also a big deal because my guy isn't the biggest fan of writing. I told him to write a "big E" and so he did... note to self, next time, say uppercase. 

He was very excited to head out to the party this afternoon. 

It was a drop off or stay party for parents but of course C wanted a "drop over" party. But the party venue has a restaurant upstairs too so I just went up there, had some cheesestix and read a book. My seat overlooked the play area and every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of my guy having a ball. 

So some big moments for my getting big C. He just melts me. Why can't they just stay little?! 

Our Annual Gingerbread House

At our house we have a few sacred traditions at Christmas time. Every year since C was born we have gone to see Disney on Ice and we build gingerbread houses. For C's first Christmas he was just six months old and even though he slept in the swing for most of the gingerbread house building experience, I love that he doesn't know any differently.

So both of these things just mean so much to me and really put me in the Christmas spirit.

This weekend was gingerbread weekend and oh, I am so thrilled with how it went. Because M is two now she got her own house to decorate and she loved that. C got his first house at age two as well.

We always bake our gingerbread from scratch and make sure that everything on our house is edible. Even though we never eat them. (Though, I will be honest, it is highly likely that the kid houses will be nibbled on in the not so distant future. I am kind of shocked they've lasted the twelve hours.) It seems like such an effort to do this, and part way through rolling out dough Husband declared that he wished he would have just let me buy the kit five years ago! But it is all worth it at the end and it makes the house smell so good.

C had some big ideas for his house. He told me exactly where he wanted the frosting and even helped squeeze the piping bag. He did some patterns with the M&Ms and also just random. He told me hours before we even began baking, that he wanted a Hershey Kiss chimney and after he was done with the rest he asked for his kiss and he put it on so proudly. 

M pretty much just wanted to eat M&Ms, which is about what you'd expect. Her house kind of collapsed due to a mishap with a chair being pushed in while she was decorating but it turned out okay. She did better with the regular sized candy over the minis. 

After they went to bed in a royal icing/candy stupor, we got to work. 

And there it is. Our whimsical 2016 gingerbread house. We did decorate the sides before building it this year which worked extremely well. We saved all our our templates so at the very least we won't have to reinvent the wheels on the kid houses next year. 

Other things we learned this year was that meringue powder makes for much stiffer royal icing. I wasn't a fan so I will make sure we get powdered egg whites for next year. I didn't hear my phone ring when I was at the grocery store, so I didn't get parchment paper which wasn't the best. Also next year we hope to do cut out windows and maybe try our hands at making glass. 

We didn't work too late on the house this year. We were done with the whole thing by 12:30!! That's like a new record. But then we still stayed up late because of the sugar and adrenaline. 

I love our traditions and time spent as family. It makes my heart full. 

St. Nicholas Day!

Well... Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Last night we set our shoes out. It was a harrowing journey because both kids thought they were putting their shoes on and they were tired... it was kind of a mess. But we prevailed. The shoes were set out, we read the story of St. Nicholas as our bedtime story and the kids went to sleep.

Immediately upon coming back downstairs I set out the stuff because I didn't want to forget.

Typically St. Nicholas brings a book and something little to share. This year he brought each kid a L.L. Bean Adventure Small Duffle  and the Kids in Motion/Kids in Action CDs I bought back in October. Well and a clementine. 

We have been doing this thing since C was a baby where, when we go somewhere, all the stuff goes into the same bag. Well it's not super practical, especially when you have to take everything out to find the tiny little sock ball for the toddler. So even though these are technically the "big" present this year, they got them today. Because they are exciting but not like a toy exciting, and also because then when we pack for Christmas, they already have them. 

It's selfish really. But, L.L. Bean lasts forever. I am still using my yellow Adventure Duffles from college, I have an XLarge and Medium and I love them. I figure the kids can use them as duffles for a good long time and then maybe as gym bags when they're older. 

I hope you are having a wonderful St. Nicholas Day! 

When 1-3 Becomes 7-10

My super not impressed face has been on today.

It snowed. I know. I know that it is December. In Iowa. And this is really just normal. But I don't think I have ever been quite so bothered by snow as I am today.

The forecast said 1-3 inches. Fine. That's not really that much. Maybe the forecast would be wrong and it would barely snow at all. I could handle that. I was not expecting that the forecast would be wrong, but in the opposite direction. When I woke up this morning to already more than 4 inches of snow. And it was still falling.

But the kids loved it!

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We were outside for a good long while and it was actually really fun. The snow was really coming down. We shoveled and got the first 5 inches off the driveway and sidewalks but it was quicker than us. At a certain point we admitted defeat and to wait until it was done snowing. 

So we went in and had a brunch lunch. 

We got out some of the frozen strawberries from June and made some strawberry topping, then we made waffles, eggs and bacon. We kept it educational with our placemats. (We also have the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, The United States Map and Learn about Money.) 

It was a great filling meal after hard work and outside play. Plus it warmed us up. C decided a long time ago that he was always going to use bacon to warm up after coming inside. He doesn't care for hot chocolate and I guess bacon was a suitable alternative?! 

Later on we went back out to finish the shoveling job. It was even wetter and sloppier in the afternoon so I am glad we had a good chunk of the snow shoveled already. All told we wound up with about 8.5 inches of snow. At least it's pretty right?! 

Hello December!

Last night we kicked December off with a bang! We went to our 5th annual Disney on Ice! It always comes to town about this time. It's such a fun tradition for us. I find it incredibly hard to believe my guy was just a little tiny smush and only 6 months old when we first went. Now both kids can sit and watch and be entertained? That's pretty great. 

We are doing the Little People Advent Calendar this year and even though we are only on day two I am loving it. 

We are deep into Little People and playing with them at our house right now. It's really fun to see what they do, so adding some Christmas and winter characters into the mix feels right. Husband and I are taking turns opening the doors every day. Since if we went every other day poor M would get the lame things. Yesterday was the little boy, today was his snowboard. Etc. 

And that's really all I know. No big plans for the weekend which is just the very best kind of weekend. Hope your December is also off to a good start! 

End of November

Holy Shamoly. Today is the last day of November?! What the what?

So let's take a little journey back to Thanksgiving yeah?

It was good. I made monkey bread as I always do. And that was spectacularly good this year! We watched the parade. Apparently every year I comment how I thought the parade started early, but coverage doesn't begin until 9:00 and the parade doesn't even get there until like 10:00.

She didn't like it at all. 

Anyway. We had a mostly normal stay home day and cooked at normal dinner time. Our food was tasty. Which is what we were going for obviously. We decorated our table so fancy with... a candle.

Our triple layer chocolate mousse cake was really good! 

And at bedtime we all went to sleep. The kids somehow slept until the "Fall" portion of Gilmore. And for a few sleepy minutes C even just sat with us and watched. It was wonderful. A perfect moment. 

The rest of my Friday was spent selling Scentsy. And it was a lot of fun and I had a lot of purchases. So that's always great when that happens! 

The rest of the weekend was a blur of regular weekend fun and spending time as a family. We decorated for Christmas on Saturday. Which gives me heart eye emojis. It's my favorite. 

No one was particularly excited for Monday to arrive. But it did. As it always does. C went to school. Husband went to work. M and I did not go to music class because I just wasn't feeling it and I'm the one who drives the minivan. 

But then on Monday night, something extraordinary happened. My Lauren Graham book downloaded at like, 11:30. Normally, when you preorder anything from Amazon, it doesn't hit until Pacific Time Zone midnight. What's a girl to do? Read. 

That's what. I got a good chunk under my belt, then fell asleep. Then yesterday was busy but I was able to get it mostly read during rest time and finished while the kids played. So so so good. Well, if you like Lauren Graham and Gilmore Girls. If you don't, you probably don't want to read it honestly. 

Today is Wednesday, which is our stay home day! I really love Wednesdays. 

Also in note worthy achievements, we have lit our advent candle every night so far! (Three nights, definitely horn toot worthy!) I am going with the LOW standards this advent so I am pretty impressed. 

And now tomorrow is December which brings all the traditions! I am so thankful it has not snowed yet. I am secretly Scrooging it and hoping/praying that global warming makes it so we have an ultra mild winter with little to no snowfall. I can handle the cold but I am not even a little excited for snow. 

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Review

This is my review/post about Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. It almost certainly includes spoilers, so if you haven’t watched yet, and you want to, please stop reading now.

It has been WELL established that I am a fan of not just Gilmore Girls but also Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator/writer/director extraordinaire. Gilmore Girls is my thing. It’s my show. Everyone has one. This is mine. I have said this to Husband a thousand times in the past week, but I don’t know if Amy Sherman-Palladino and I are just actually very similar, or if I have listened and reused her words so many times that I have developed her sensibilities myself. She is my spirit animal.

We didn’t go anywhere for Thanksgiving and were in bed by 8:00. My alarm was set for 1:45, giving us time to wake up, gather necessary supplies and be ready for 2:00 AM. We hit play as soon as it was possible and I was losing my mind with excitement.

And you know what? It did not disappoint. At all. Winter started and it just felt like home Ezekiel. We were back where we belonged. Sure season seven is the pariah, because it wasn’t Amy Sherman-Palladino. So to have her back was everything. It was wonderful. (And Daniel too. I am not discounting you Daniel!)

The references were there and better than ever, they seamlessly brought back things from their show, pop culture and life and it was great. We are in the midst of rewatching and I am just getting even more out of it than the first time. It’s wonderful, the attention to detail, the subtext and the foreshadowing.

There are a lot of critics who dislike Stars Hallow the Musical. But, my friends, you are missing out the brilliance of it. From a straight up musical theater point of view, Sutton Foster, formerly of Amy’s “Bunheads,” is a Tony award winning actor who was named Violet (one of her most recent roles) singing songs written by Jeanine Tesori (who wrote Violet among other things) is just all the levels of genius. Plus Christian Borle. Also a really big name in the musical theater world. So it was amazing.

But it also serves a major plot device. Stars Hallow is known for ridiculous festivals and events, so the musical played right into that sensibility. But more than that, there was an obvious parallel to be drawn to the Stars Hallow Museum Dioramas. Including, that back in season five, as they are leaving, Sookie exclaims “And only three bucks! That crappy Abba show costs a hundred dollars!” Only for Stars Hallow The Musical to have an Abba curtain call. What’s changed is Lorelai. She loved the diorama for it’s absurdness and she is unable to enjoy the musical. She just doesn't realize how damaged and depressed she is until the bonus song, where Sutton and her lyrics hit home. That convention wouldn’t have made sense without the musical there in the first place.

For Lorelai's story to come back around with “Reflecting Light” as the soundtrack, I cried and smiled. It was perfection. I am happy that she is happy. And they are happy. We all deserved that as fans and they deserved it as characters. Lorelai is going to build her own empire and I bet it's going to be successful.

Ultimately Emily showed the most growth. Moving on, mourning Richard, healing her relationship with Lorelai. In obvious growth, she kept the same maid the entire year and allowed her to bring in her family. It gave Emily some more people to care about. I love who she became and I am loving her new role in Nantucket. It feels right. She learned to be who she was and I am proud of her. All the love for Emily.

When we look at Rory, there are a lot of critics. I am not one. Who would expect this girl to know what she was doing in the world? She is the center of the universe and a perfect example of a Millennial! No wonder she failed. Obviously no one has quite figured out that Mitchum was right and journalism wasn't actually her thing. Writing, maybe. Journalism? Not so much. So The Stars Hallow Gazette makes sense for her. Truly.

For once, it was very clear which boyfriend team the Palladinos believed in. And for that I am thankful. Once and for all, Jess realizes he made a big mistake and it isn’t ever going to happen. Jess, could be argued, is Rory’s muse, but he is hardly the love of her life. They have never quite fit. And it has to fit.

*I know there's a school of thought that someday they will eventually get together the way Luke and Lorelai did but I am not buying it. First, Rory is not Lorelai. She has always wanted different things than her mother. Plus, she's had nine years to find her way back to Jess if that's really how that was going to go down. She hasn't shown any romantic interest in him since she was 18. She didn't start that kiss in season six, he did. She pulled away because she loved Logan. And let's be real, now they are step cousins and that's weird. But I guess the ending is open ended enough that if you want to believe Team Jess goes on, go for it.*

She just can’t quit Logan. And, it appears she won’t ever be able to. Cue the last four words. I knew way ahead of time because of all the foreshadowing. From the conversation she had with her father, I think she will make a different choice. For as much as she is like her mother, I fully believe she will let him in, not push him away and let him be in her life forever. Whether they are together or not, I don’t know. What I do know is he fits her better than anyone else. I think he was waiting around for Rory to ask him to leave Odette. Rory is just so afraid of commitment and love. She hasn't grown one bit since season one in that regard.

On some level, I love that this is 32 year old Rory in this situation instead of 21 year old Rory, had Amy been there to end it the way she wanted in 2007. It’s more interesting. (Since when we first meet Lorelai, she was 32.) Because of where she was going, this whole time, Rory couldn’t be too rooted in one thing, which does make her seem like one of the thirty-something gang. But I think Rory has finally figured it out. And I think it’s all going to be okay. In my head, Logan and Rory get together and become the new Emily and Richard. Coming even more full circle than a Rory/Lorelai circle. (And Odette will always be the Pennilyn Lot.)

Ultimately, I hope this is the true end. Sure I have questions. Sure I’ll always wonder. It's very Soprano-esque. But I think that is better than exploring the next stage of their lives, I don’t know that anyone really wants to see that. Plus, they’ve used up their allotment of Amy hats in Fall so, where can they go from here? I feel a little empty to live in a world where Gilmore Girls is truly over; there was always that small glimmer they may come back before. But to end it right? That’s worth it to me.

In order of preference: Fall, Summer, Spring, Winter. (Which, BTW is just the best Carole King Easter Egg ever.)

Also: If Netflix wants to go ahead and bring back Bunheads or Amy wants to create a new world for me, I will follow her to the edge of the desert. (Or where she leads, I will follow.) Obviously if they do make more Gilmore, I will of course watch that too. In Amy I trust.

Being Thankful

It's today! A huge day in our family! I have wanted to share this big news with you for a long time. And today, I finally get to.  Dear readers of my blog, today, at long last, Penguins: Spy in the Huddle became available on Netflix.

I know. This is epic epic news. It isn't even 8:00 AM and not only have we had to vacuum up the crumbled Styrofoam "snow" that was all over my living room, but we have already hit play on episode one. There's three whole episodes.

BBC Earth Spycam documentaries have long been a favorite in this house. (I can sing the Bears: Spy in the Woods song without thinking.) But up until this point, the Penguins documentary has been restricted to the few clips we could find on YouTube.

If you could see the excitement that is flooding from my guy, you'd be excited too. Thank you Netflix!

It is the perfect kick off to our Thanksgiving break and celebrations. 

Tomorrow morning brings monkey bread and the parade. We are going to have an Italian feast for dinner: Caesar salad, Chicken Alfredo, garlic bread and chocolate cake. Because I am the most contrary. And the "traditional Thanksgiving fare" just doesn't do it for me. It's just not food I get excited about. But the menu doesn't matter I am told. As long as we're thankful, and I am.

Friday morning at 2:00 AM Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life hits Netflix. And I cannot wait. We are going to sleep with the kids so we can wake up and watch at least two of the episodes right away. (Depending on how agreeable our children are, we may get through all of them but we will see. But I took the 4 Words Pledge so no spoilers here!) 

I am actually part of a vendor open house on Friday so I will take another nap after, then head out to hopefully sell some Scentsy! I am going to offer some great specials and I promise if you order from afar to include you in that! 

So that is my plan for the next three days! I am incredibly thankful for this little corner of the internet where I get to sort my stuff and share my heart with you all. I wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

Monday Check In

Time is slipping by so quickly. I can't believe that it's been almost a week since I checked in here. So what's new with us? My gosh. Not much and yet it seems like so much has happened.

Last week, This is Us' twitter replied to my tweet.

And because it is the hit TV show of the season, it got plenty of likes and retweets. Which meant I got notifications. It was my own little mini excitement. I just love "This is Us." Truly. I am excited for tomorrow's episode. 

We took family pictures/Christmas Card pictures last weekend. I am so excited to see them. We actually don't have one good picture of all four of us. (Shame on us!!) So I am especially excited to hang one on the wall. They were supposed to be outdoors at a Christmas tree farm but got moved indoors due to cold and extremely gusty winds where everyone's hair would have looked horrible!

Speaking of Christmas. I am a "decorate after Thanksgiving" kind of gal, even though I actually detest Thanksgiving. (Real quick: we should always be thankful, it should be on a Monday or Friday, I don't like turkey at all.) And so I was hanging on to my fall decor. My Halloween stuff came down, but "fall" stayed. And we got some Thanksgiving window clings. But the squirrels went to town on this pumpkin. And now I really just want to put up Christmas decorations.

I know. Advent. And waiting. And liturgical. Well, we do have an Advent "log" with candles that we light. But we just jump to straight up Christmas. And I am A-Okay with that. 

This has been bringing me all the joys. And I don't even like ET. But, you know, sometimes that's good. 

In more Christmas news, C's class has started working on the Christmas program and I am just dying over his little voice belting out the songs. It's just so cute to hear the little kid shouting/singing. I cannot even wait for the program! 

And in the news about Hamilton and Pence I have a few things to say. Theater has two functions: to entertain and to educate. Hamilton does both. Well. Our VP-Elect has said he wasn't offended. (Though for real America, let's cut it out with all the booing everyone. It's so immature!) I have read the statement and do not find it out of line or disrespectful. And I would still go see Hamilton again. So this #boycott thing is ridiculous. (And for real, it's sold out for ages so how exactly are you boycotting?)

Anyway... Happy Monday!

Happiest November

We had the best weekend. I went home. It's been a long time since we were there and I was legitimately feeling homesick. Homesickness is tricky like that, it just kind of eats away at you and once you admit it, somehow, it gets a little better.

But going home is an even better way to cure homesickness. So we did. C didn't have school for Veteran's Day which was unexpected. Our school follows our local district's calendar, and they got a new superintendant who is a Veteran so it became a day off. It made for a good weekend away.

My brother came home from college for the weekend too. It was awesome. The kids had both uncles and Grandma and Grandpa dote upon them and play hippo rescue, cars, castles, kitchen and space explorers. My mom had a coupon to use Prime Now for the first time. (I use it. I'm a fan. I can only do it at their house though because it's not available everywhere. Sad.) So she bought snacks and the game Balderdash. When my family gets together we play games. That's what we do. It was awesome!

Husband and I were able to sneak away to Ikea to buy a new kitchen table. I love Ikea. I hate how crowded it is. Minnesota Ikea is better than Chicago Ikea though. In Chicago they're all rude and grabby. Like it's a race to get items before the next guy. On Saturday, a man dropped some dishes in the check out line and the entire area got very quite and sympathetic. People went over to help. It probably wouldn't have gone like that in Chicago. Minnesota nice is not a myth is what I am saying.

Saturday night, my Grandpa came over and we had a nice Ham dinner that my dad made. Since we aren't going up for Thanksgiving, it was a nice little fake/early Thanksgiving.

On this trip we used Kids Dramamine and Sea-bands on our prone to car sickness child and I will not be taking a road trip without them anytime soon.

Sunday night after we got home and put the kids in bed we built the table and set it up.

Nothing but the fanciest of fancy placemats for us at our house! I am excited for this table for many reasons but the major three are as follows.

1. The table does not require a tablecloth. 
2. It is finished and can be wiped down without also wiping off stain. 
3. It can seat all of us without taking up too much space. 

After moving the old table, I swept and mopped. But I noticed how the floor needed a really good scrub. So yesterday after music class, M and I went to the store and bought new cleaner and some fresh sponges. Then during nap I turned on Hamilton and went to town. I spent the entire two hours scrubbing. I don't know if my floor has ever been that clean. Seriously. My arms hurt this morning.

But man, it feels good to get it clean. Today I am going to magic erase the walls. And then I will be 100% happy with the state of the kitchen. (I will also have to run the dishwasher but...semantics.)

My heart is full from a good weekend and lots of fun with my family. November has been full of goodness and this weekend looks like it will fit right in the mix. It's hard to believe that November is halfway through already. Happy Tuesday!

Planning Ahead: What's for Dinner

Sometimes life gets away from me. (Probably all of us right?) But other days I am right on top of that, Rose!

Like today for instance. We have a super busy weekend ahead. We typically get our grocery shopping done on Saturdays. And we make our meal plan on Friday night. But today I got it in my head to get on it, so I made a meal plan and went grocery shopping this morning. The freezer meals have been assembled so they can go right into the crock pot on their designated days. The ingredients for other days have been purchased and put away.

And we are ready to enjoy our weekend without stressing about what we are going to eat. Because you know, some days I am this girl. (Even with a meal plan.)

So what are we going to eat this week? I am so glad you asked! 

Sunday: Frozen Pizza and Broccoli 

Monday: Crockpot Ribs, Baked Potatoes and Carrots

Tuesday: Chicken LoMein, Rice and Egg Rolls 

Wednesday: Crockpot Beef Stew

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie

Friday: Fish, Potatoes and Green Beans

Perfect for a busy Fall week!

Everyone's Favorite Post

So here comes everyone's favorite post. The "when do I actually see some benefit to the daylight savings ending" post. Because the way I see it, my kids are waking up crazy early and I am cooking dinner in pitch black so... in 2020 whichever candidate promises to rid us of this nightmare gets my vote.

Speaking of... we did.

She was as excited to take a picture as I was to vote this go around. But sister suffragette and all that, I showed up! I do live in a swing state. So I guess we will see. 

Alright. Have a happy Tuesday. I plan on going to bed early. This Is Us isn't on tonight. 

What's Your Name Man? Alexander Hamilton

Oh my gosh. Hamilton was everything I wanted. And so much more. I can't articulate how much I enjoyed it. But I am going to try.

We drove in. Got a ROCKSTAR parking spot for less than I was willing to pay. (Seriously, $16 for the day is not bad in Chicago!)

We were slightly disappointed by the fact that Karen Olivio was out. (Husband more than I, since I am not the fan of In The Heights that he is.) We also had the Sunday Hamilton, Joseph Morales. Because, we saw it on a Sunday. I am coming to the understanding that if an actor has not played Usnavi they probably have a leg up on Hamilton. 

Morales was just fine. He hasn't completely come into his own yet, but the show just opened and he probably hasn't had that many chances to play it yet. The weak spot was "Say No to This" but he recovered and probably only 40% of the audience noticed. 

When I faced the battle of Ticketmaster on June 21, these were the tickets I was offered after 2.5 hours of trying. We took them even though they were "limited view." We did miss everything on the far stage left and the top platform. 

Apparently the Public Bank Theatre is known for basically having terrible sight lines so I consider myself lucky. We looked at seats in the far back of the main floor and they missed like half the stage. And old theater = support poles blocking views as well. 

As luck would have it, because the seats were very small and squished together, the two people on my immediate left didn't show up! (I know, those were expensive seats so that's crazy to me! Plus... Hamilton!) And after intermission you better believe we scooted over for even better sight lines! 

The show was so good. The Reynold's Pamphlet wins for the most improved. The song is catchy. But with the choreography... it's amazing. The ensemble was utilized more than I could have imagined and only a few times did it seem out of place. 

It was wonderful. Just amazing. If you can see it, see it. I want to see it again. It's also probable if/when I see it again, someone will not be trying to smoke marijuana during The Battle of Yorktown. It must have been in the balcony and it was so ridiculous.

After the show, as I told you we would, we had dinner at Portillo's. It was just as delicious as I wanted it to be. And I totally took a slice of cake home with me and I am going to enjoy that during rest time this afternoon!

It was just the very best day. I loved every minute of it.

7QT: Work!

one. Last weekend we did the whole "try on all the winter gear and see what we need to buy" game. Somehow, and I am not quite sure how, we only needed boots and mittens for M and snow pants for C. I know. It may actually be a miracle. I ordered our missing items and they came yesterday so pretty much we are ready for winter should it come.

two. I read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel for book club last night. It's called "science fiction" but it sure didn't fit into that genre as far as I am concerned. It is adult post-apocalyptic fiction. The story follows some interconnected people in the years before and after the "Georgian Flu" kills 99% of humanity.

It was hard to get into but then once you kind of figure out the rhythm it was okay. My big beef with the book was that it ended just when I was finally interested and invested in the characters. I am not sure if it's being set up for a sequel or not. I honestly don't know what the book was about. It wasn't escapism because the book is stressful. If you read this book and don't automatically want to start stock piling water I don't know what that says about you. But there wasn't any great lesson or knowledge to glean from it either, so... a solid three star book for me. 

three. It's a big weekend for Husband and I! We are going to see Hamilton in Chicago. I am so so thankful that the Cub's parade is today so it doesn't interfere. I cannot wait! I was a late convert to the show because I do try to be contrary when things are popular. Also the timbre of Lin-Manuel Miranda's voice kind of bothers me. (I am the same way with Nathan Lane. Can't even handle it.) 

Ultimately though, the Chicago cast is exciting and doesn't include Lin. (And he is currently in London so no chance he does the pop in for a show thing he has talked about doing. And even if he did, that'd be so cool!) It is our anniversary date! It seems unreal since I bought the tickets in June. Work! 

four. The other best part about our time in Chicago is Portillo's. 

Oh Lord, I love Portillo's. A whole day date that includes time with Husband, Hamilton and Hot Dogs? (And maybe some chocolate cake because seriously folks that cake is good.) Best. Day. Ever. 

five. In other Hamilton news, the Hamilton Mixtape is available for preorder today and I am dying over it. Kelly Clarkson's Quiet Uptown only makes me love the show more. And Kelly. Who I met once. She was very sweet. 

I don't know what it may take to get you to come aboard the Hamilton bandwagon but if you're hesitant... this mixtape is a great babystep. Or try the Hamilton's America the PBS Great Performances Documentary.

six. C's teacher recommended a Magna-Doodle for him to work on writing and drawing. We already had a mini one but it has seen better days. We got our new one on Wednesday and he has been a drawing machine for two days. It's fun to watch. Can you guess what this is: 

It's a walrus. If you didn't guess based on the art, you're probably saying "of course" because you most likely know that my guy has a thing for the walrus. 

seven. I took this today in my backyard on the way to the garage. 

I was just struck by the simple beauty of the blue sky and the tips of the tree just beginning to change. I just took a second to breathe and be. Then of course, chase after my toddler and go pick my guy up from school. But sometimes a moment is enough. 

Have a wonderful weekend! Linking Up with Kelly

Way to Go Cubs!

I am not usually one for baseball. I mean, I like the Twins in a vague "I haven't been to a game since 2010 but we buy their ball caps" kind of way. And when we go to the minor league team in town, not a whole lot of watching the game gets done chasing after the kids.

I went to grad school in Missouri on the Kansas City side. So a lot of my friends went crazy last year when the Royals won the world series. I went to college and live in the middle of Cubs territory and seriously my friends are beyond themselves with happiness. But seriously, can you blame them? They have been waiting for this for 108 years. That is a long time!

And the World Series has been theirs to lose since Sunday! And they stuck it out until Game 7. They made it go into an extra inning. And they won! I have been periodically turning on the games towards the end for this past week but yesterday I turned it on while my kids were still awake and it was just starting. I am so glad I did. It was probably the most interesting and dramatic game of baseball I have ever seen.

We took a selfie in the bottom of the 10th because it just seemed historical. I had been rooting for both teams throughout the game. And somewhere in the 8th inning I was totally over it and just wanted to go to sleep. Then the Indians scored and it got super exciting again.

I am pretty sure that they will make a movie out of this game someday. If the Indians had won, it would have been an easy Major League 3. But with the Cubs winning, well, you know that it will be a movie. And with the rain delay and it all tied up, that clubhouse scene is going to be beautiful. Someone is going to write a hit song that will be the song of the movie and be able to retire off of the money they will earn.

To celebrate the Cubs I am offering a personal special on the Cubs (or any MLB) warmer. 

I am so glad I am tired this morning from watching that exciting game! History my friends! (And it sure beats the results of staying up late next Tuesday. Also historical. But not exhilarating or fun.)