Thursday Happy Thoughts

I have a few random things that make me laugh and smile to share with you. Other than the fact they make me happy, they are pretty much unrelated.

Last week I bought all the ingredients for the recipe Beth suggested for Terriyaki sheet pan dinner. I went into the kitchen to start making the dinner and Husband was already working on it. He figured out that since I have gotten all my sheet pan recipes from Beth lately, that's where I got this one. So he went to her blog, found the recipe and started cooking. It was hilarious to me that he was so clever as to do that and super helpful to boot!!

Our radio station started playing Christmas music at the beginning of November. That is too early and I love Christmas music. So we held out until Tuesday of this week. We were sitting in car line and "My Favorite Things" came on. C looks at me and with great shock/confusion/knowledge says "This isn't a Christmas song. This is from The Sound of Music!" Then he face palms. And I laughed so hard. Because first of all I didn't know he knew how to face palm, and second he is 100% correct on all counts. Singing about snowflakes and sleigh bells does not automatically make a song Christmas-y.

We got a surprise Christmas cheer package yesterday from a blogger you probably know and love. It delighted my children to no end. M seriously did not take off this Minnie Mouse hat for hours. And she has already put it back on today. She sent C a Write Your Own Story Book and he is busy like a bee learning and writing. Marie truly just had some things laying around she thought my kids would enjoy and then sent them to us. How wonderful this world really is!!

C had his first spelling test! And I love it. I cropped out his name because he wrote first and last.

Clearly he has some room to grow with the whole writing on the lines thing... (and the capital As and Ds all the time thing is driving me mad) but all in all I am happy he is doing so well! Over thanksgiving he was making his own activity books for people to do and he spelled activity from memory... he shocks me daily with his knowledge.

So those are my Thursday Happy Thoughts. I hope you have a wonderful day today!

Top Five of Thanksgiving Weekend

one. The first best thing about my Thanksgiving was hanging out with my family. I haven't seen my brothers since May which is a little too long for my liking. So I totally was digging the time with them. But I also got to spend some quality time with my parents.

My dad and I went to Costco together and then we also went to Hy-Vee. I have always enjoyed errands with my dad, plus he buys me things! I've been out of his house for seven years but if he still wants to buy my family a box of mandarin oranges I will let him!

My mom and I went to visit my grandpa who is recovering from a partial hip replacement. This is what the complex sign said:

But my mom and I also went to Walgreen's together and we made a mock instagram of food because for whatever reason my mom doesn't get why people take pictures of their food and post it. She also doesn't give a hoot when I ask her about her dinner or tell her what we had. It was a fun laugh.

Turkey Sandwich and water! #lunch #sotasty #thanksgivinggoeson #leftovers

two. Seeing Wonder. I did dedicate an entire post to it yesterday after all. But we so rarely get out to something fun, and even rarer that I spend time alone. Plus it was just a great movie. I highly recommend it.

three. Going to Ikea. I was a little A LOT overwhelmed with the idea of going ANYWHERE near the Mall of America on Black Friday but my mom and Husband were quite persuasive. And then... there was no one there. Sure there were people walking across Lindau Lane to get to the mall but Ikea was dead. I truly don't think I've ever been there when it was that empty. Easily the best trip ever. Husband and I walked around the whole maze and talked. We tried out rooms we'll never buy and chairs that we might. And the whole reason for the trip was a bookcase for C's room and it's perfection.

four. Board games. We played Catan, and Catan: Cities and Knights. And I loved every single round it. It was the first time playing Cities and Knights for us and there was a fairly steep learning curve but now I really understand the strategy and love it! My brothers are also known for mixing random games together, their Jumanjopolife (Jumanji, Monopoly and Life) game is the stuff of legends. We created Trivial Who, which was Trival Pursuit and Guess Who. So many laughs and so much fun.

five. Escape Room! Last Christmas my mom planned for us to go to an escape room. It was SO much fun! So she got us another one for Thanksgiving! And we went and we loved it yet again. It was rated the "most difficult" rating but since we only played one side of the room it made it a little easier because we for sure escaped with 19:58 left and we only used two hints. Our first hint I stand by because we truly were never going to figure it out. Had I known how close we were to the end I probably wouldn't have gotten the last clue. We did take the traditional post escape picture but I know my brothers would hate if I posted it.

So those were the top 5 things about my Thanksgiving weekend. A quick bonus thing was that we passed an Amish buggy on the drive from Husband's Grandma's house to my parents which is the BEST part of that drive! 

Wonder

On Friday night, I went to the movies. Husband and my brother went to see Murder on the Orient Express. I went to see Wonder. I first wrote about reading the book here. The book wrecked me. Over the summer I hosted book club for Wonder.

I truly 100% believe this book should be required reading. We could all stand to learn a little something from Auggie. The preview for the movie hit me at the core and I loved it from that moment on. 

So here I am on Friday night in the awesome reclining theater... 

 

And it was the perfect movie going experience. There was no one there. Two people on the opposite side of my row. And one person in the row above me, who I couldn't see at all unless I stood up. (In the middle of the movie, some teenagers came in from another movie just so they could make out the whole time but they weren't movie goers.) Have you ever gone to a movie by yourself? It is one of my favorite things to do and I rarely do it anymore. 

So it really felt like it was just me and the movie, which was perfect. I brought my Kleenex too, no worries. And I needed them. I cried and cried. I cried happy tears. I cried sad tears. I cried parent loving children tears. Apparently in order for a movie to be one of my good cry movies it needs to cast Julia Roberts or Owen Wilson. (Stepmom and Armageddon respectively.)  It's wonderful. So putting them together in the same movie was a bit of a sob fest.

The movie hit all the notes I needed them to hit. The kids they cast were phenomenal. And then there were little extras that made it feel like they took ME into account when they made the move. (They didn't really.) The fact Daisy was played by a border terrier just like my childhood dog Angelo? The glimpse of Patrick Swayze and "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" was an extra tidbit of Madeline love too. 

This is Gidget from the movie.

I never say this about "book movies" but I loved it just as much as the book. It was a different experience but overall they got it spot on. It was as if the book came to life. It was, it is, brilliant. I told my brother and Husband when I met them in the lobby after the movie that we would be buying the movie. We really will. I loved it so much. 

The only part of the movie that left a little to be desired was the ending. I enjoyed hearing the lessons everyone learned from writing their own precepts but it wasn't to be. I guess they had to condense it somehow. So I did desire a little bit more from the end but the rest of the movie was so strong I can forgive that. 

Anyway, I highly highly recommend it. It is rated PG so it is suitable for most people. I think you wouldn't need to read the book prior to the movie but in all honestly you should probably read the book because it's so good. And remember it's written for middle grades (10 to 12 year olds) so it is a fast read for adults! 

A Magical First Haircut

I never ever blogged about our Disney Trip! And if I never blogged it did it really happen? Well, I am going to start working on some posts to share but I have one little sneak peek today.

My girl got her very first haircut at Magic Kingdom. Which I was strangely emotional about. Husband thought I was silly but she was so bald for so long it was hard to explain how I was feeling. It just was the one "baby" thing I was holding on to. We were eating lunch before her appointment and I was just staring at her hair drinking it in. And I took a million before pictures which are trapped on my defunct phone. Boo.

Tucked away on Main Street U.S.A. is the Harmony Barbershop and with an appointment they will give you a haircut! I made a "Baby's First Haircut" appointment for my baby a few months in advance. As you do at WDW. It did not disappoint. In fact it was magical because... Disney.

She got to play with a spiny Rapunzel which is her princess of choice. And Miss Valerie gave her a little trim to even her hair out. I was going for more ceremonial than "actual cut" and she delivered beautifully. It's probably a really good gig to be one of the barbers at the shop because tips and air conditioning! They are all licensed cosmologists and so nice. But who isn't nice at Disney? Not many people that's for sure.

Miss Valerie even put her hair up into pigtails and sprinkled pixie dust on! The whole experience was everything my mom heart needed and wanted from her first haircut. It was special and wonderful. Then because Mickey knew it was her first haircut, she got her very own special ears to commemorate the occasion. All told the package for the haircut, certificate, ears and keepsake hair clippings was only $25. The ears all by themselves are $24 so it is basically a steal. Which if you know WDW, you know there's very little that is, in fact, a steal.

Things to know about the barbershop:

1.  It's tiny. Three chairs only. So appointments are a must. I have read that you can pop in early in the morning to see if you can get on the schedule, but then of course there's no guarantee. 
2. They do not wash your hair. They have spray bottles to dampen it if need be but you are instructed to come with clean, dry hair. 
3. Because the shop is so small there isn't a lot of room for spectators. Fair warning. 
4. Harmony Barbershop is right next to the gates where the Main Street U.S.A. parades start, so if your haircut is close to a parade, you would probably want to give yourself extra time to get there. 

Oh M. I am so glad we were able to take this little girl to WDW, she was totally old enough to love it and find it magical but the fact she was still two meant that she was a guest of Mickey Mouse. (That means she didn't need a ticket!) And I will never forget her first haircut and she'll always be able to say that it was at Magic Kingdom, which I think is pretty neat.

Here's Monday!

Monday.

A new fresh week. I am trying not to be envious of everyone with a full week off for Thanksgiving. I'm not too worried about our little two day school week anyhow.

My goodness today is going to be a wonderful day. It is sunny. The high is in the 50s! Oh glorious day! Thank you Mother Nature for this respite from the cold and dreary.

I will write one last leaf update here. Our city extended free yard waste pickup by a week, but it doesn't even matter because we (and by we, I mean mostly Husband this time around) finished yesterday afternoon. Our lawn looks tidy, our tree bare. This morning the truck took away nine bags and I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

I slept in on Saturday in the first time in a long long while. I had book club yesterday and it was wonderful. I held my girl while she sang "Alleluia" in her little three-year-old voice. This weekend was just what I needed and I am so glad for it.

I hope I can extend that feeling to this week. Have a good Monday everyone!

Friday QT

1. So last night I made the Mongolian Beef that Beth recommended. And... yep. It's a keeper for sure. I will tell you that I do not do spicy so I just skipped the jalapenos all together and I didn't miss them. Also, 1 inch of ginger is the most open to interpretation instruction I think I've ever read in a recipe but even still... mine turned out quite tasty! We served ours with rice and broccoli and the kids enjoyed dipping theirs into the sauce. A meal my kids actually ate? YES.

2. What are your big plans for this weekend? We aren't really doing anything. And that is maybe my most favorite thing to type to you right now. We haven't had a regular weekend since October 6! We had the food show, M's birthday, Halloween, dog sitting and Elton John. Yep. I am ready for a comfy cozy weekend.

3. I read a couple of good books this past week or so.

I feel like everyone read this back when it came out, but I just got to it. I enjoyed this read that is written for twelve-year-olds. It's fun, it's bookish and has a good little life lesson about playing fair. 

This was a very wonderful and thought provoking read. There were times the readers were able to piece together more of Eleanor's life than she was, and there were times where we were completely in the dark over what was going on. 

This is a book I know I will reread to try and glean more insight out of. It is beautifully written and is definitely up there as one of the better books I've read in 2017. It made me feel a lot of feels but I also don't think it's for the faint of heart. It definitely touches on some dark themes. 

This was a fun read though slightly confusing at times until it all came together. I hope there's a sequel in the works because I'd love to know what these characters are up to. 

4. So in case you're wondering how my Goodreads Book Challenge is going... 

It's going pretty well. And I think I am going to set a higher goal for 2018. 

6. I am having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that Thanksgiving this week. I mean... that basically means it's 2018 already. I am not a good Advent-er. In fact I kind of really dislike Advent. But Colleen is going to focus her Advent on her marriage and I think that sounds lovely. I am going to do the same and come out on the Christmas side of things a better wife. 

7. I have never been one to find myself with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) but November has been rough on me with the gloom. These past few days it actually has been sunny and I have forced myself to get outside and get some of that sunshine into my pocket. I am going to be getting some Vitamin D and kick my step count into gear to make sure those doldrums don't turn into something yucky. 

Probably also going to make a super upbeat playlist so I can dance it out every day. Dancing it out is good stuff. 

Okay everyone. Happy weekend!! 

What's Up Wednesday?!

I would love to say that I am nearly done Christmas shopping but the reality is that I am getting there. I have my lists made however, which is the hard part sometimes. Or at least it is for me. Except for what do you buy for a person who hates gift cards but also doesn't like anything? Anyone got any brilliant ideas? Me neither.

One of the items for C came today and it was the wrong size! It was a 3T and I know you don't know my kids really but they have long torsos and are always a size up in shirts from their age so even M isn't in a 3T. But Disney is magical magical magical and not only are they sending the correct size for C but they want me to donate it to someone in need. I will definitely be looking for an angel tree recipient who likes Cars (the movie) and needs a 3T! Then we can get some books and other goodies to go along with the shirt. 

It's hard sometimes for me to not get overwhelmed with life and ALL. THE. THINGS. Monday is our last free yard waste pickup of the year and I just want to get the yard looking good. But Fall is tricky. If it isn't flurrying like on Sunday it's drizzling. Wet leaves are impossible to deal with. Today is windier than all get out but it is blessedly sunny. And there's that saying...

So you better believe I went out and used my new leaf toy (that sucks them up and mulches them) and got two bags full. Which doesn't sound like much but it's a lot of leaves. But it's so windy it doesn't look like I did much at all. And then there's the fact that this is the third post in row about leaves. Leaves. For the sake of all that is good, you don't care. I shouldn't care. But I care. 

In other news that is not related to a household chore or task I need to accomplish do you have an IHOP by you? We do but we truly never go there. We were on their website yesterday looking at Swedish pancakes but we found this:

Fluffy the snowman? Come on. The cutest! For the record, IHOP WAY over charges for Swedish pancakes if you were wondering. And also, yes we definitely bought some mix and lingonberries so I can make my own! And I am looking forward to them immensely.

And in totally unrelated topics here is today in Microfashion:

Featuring two kids rocking outfits of their own choosing and one boy with a new as of yesterday haircut. 

Okay. Have a super swell rest of your Wednesday. 

The Weekend!

My parents came into town on Thursday night! My kids were so so excited to see them. We had a pizza party and watched Sing with popcorn for a movie night. My parents had never seen Sing and my kids really like that movie. As it happens, it is a really not-annoying kid movie. The only part I wish wasn't in there was the rabbits who start singing "Baby Got Back" but the rest of the movie is pretty great. They were so excited to tell my mom that Johnny was singing "Elton!" They are getting good at identifying his songs!

My kids LOVE to watch popcorn pop. We just make it on the stove top and shake the pot around a bit. My dad didn't think that was safe for the kids so he got us a popcorn popper on Friday. I'm not going to lie, I am pretty excited about it. We of course made popcorn again for out snack and the kids loved it again.

My dad and I also went to Home Depot together and then he helped me mulch up more of my leaves. It was so weird because it was Friday so Husband was at work but it totally felt like a Saturday! We got the yard pretty well cleaned up but never fear, it already looks like we didn't do anything yet again, only now they're all wet so I have to wait for them to dry up a bit. And there's still plenty more on the tree. YIKES! Free yard waste pick up ends next Monday so I hope my tree gets the memo!!

Friday night was the main event... Elton John. And let me tell you, he did not disappoint. Even a little.

Our seats were really pretty good even though our pixely pictures don't seem like they were. He started exactly at 8:00 and played for a straight two hours without an intermission or anything. It was actually very cool. I mean, the man is 70 and he was playing the piano so hard. It was awesome. 

He sang everything I hoped he'd sing. Including Levon which is my favorite! It was awesome!!! We had so much fun and laughed and sang. I just really enjoy spending time with my mom so I am so happy I got a special night out with her. I would post a picture of us that I took and love but she would be horrified if I blogged it so I will not. :) 

On Saturday before they left we went to a craft and vendor show at the elementary school right by our house. That was just okay because there were only like three craft vendors and an awful lot of MLM vendors. And, as a Scentsy consultant I have nothing against MLM vendors at all, but I was really hoping for holiday crafts. But again, fun quality time with my mom! 

Yesterday was blah! It flurried. 

I know it's November and snow is possible. But people, I am not ready emotionally for snow. So Mother Nature better calm it down a bit and hustle herself back to some sunny Fall days. Alas, Winter is coming. I know that's a Game of Thrones reference but I don't get it since I don't watch that show. Is it wildly inappropriate? Can I just say it anyway because it's true?

Anyway, now we are back to Monday. Have a good one everyone!

A Tale I Will Tell You

You may recall, when I left you yesterday my backyard looked like this:

M and I went to pick up C from school. And it was the darnedest thing, as we pulled up to the school M talked to me. When it was our turn to collect C, I asked her a question and she didn't respond. I asked C if she was asleep and he said yes. I confirmed that she was "for real asleep" and not "pretend asleep" but no. She was asleep.

Well we got home and she was deeply and wonderfully asleep.

I wasn't going to move her. And since that meant I needed to be outside anyway I got to work on raking the leaves. C helped. Sort've. 

At least he had fun. (I totally had him take his jacket off for a classic in the leaves photo but he put it right back on.) After about an hour our lawn looked like this:

The leaves really were falling faster than I could pick them up. But it was much improved anyhow! But one little girl was still totally completely asleep. So I got back into the car, with a little Halloween candy and read a book.

Then a little while later, she woke up and we resumed the playing outside, only this time with two kids. Soaking in the sunshine until it was time to start dinner. (And the sun was pretty much sayonara anyway...)

Now that's where this story ends. Because it certainly doesn't continue to the point where everyone under the age of six wouldn't eat their enchilada at dinner and didn't get desert. Certainly not. And already at the time of writing I could rake the leaves again already. Oh Fall. So much work.

Wednesday

What's up Wednesday?

Last night our school had Ladies Night Bingo! It was a really fun fundraiser for the Home and School Association. No one from my table won but I am glad I went. I am really going to try to attend events for the next few years at least!

Our church and school is going through some construction for the next bit here and we are going to be worshiping in the fellowship hall until just before Holy week. Bah. However it will be nice when it's done and they are trying so hard to decorate and make the room feel more "sanctuary" and less "basketball hoops and cafeteria window."

Guess we will see how it goes on Sunday.

Overnight, like real actual overnight, our tree lost most of it's leaves and our yard looks like this right now:

Yikes. I can't decide if I should go out there and rake for a while this afternoon or whether to just leave it until Saturday when Husband can mow it all down and bag it up. He can't get to it until then because it's pitch dark before he even leaves work. Drat that saving time thing. But I am loving that it's sunny today, it makes ALL the difference in our attitudes that's for sure.

Tomorrow my parents are coming! Woot! Because on Friday my mom and I are going to the Elton John concert. I was super excited about the concert anyway but when I realized on this world tour he had United States stops in Las Vegas, Indiana and of all places my area? That makes it even more fun. On the Facebook event, there are posts from people around the world flying in just for this concert. Like people from Ireland are coming here?! AKA to a very uninteresting, not much to see, smallish city at best. I have no idea how Elton John's people picked this venue but I am not going to complain!

PLUS his new album comes out on Friday so that's pretty cool too. When I saw Prince in concert in 2004 everyone got a copy of his brand new CD, maybe Elton will do something like that too? I mean, doubtful but maybe he feels like channeling his inner Oprah?

Anyway I am excited and ready to check seeing him off my bucket list. Is it weird that my bucket list is comprised mainly of musical legends I want to see live? Still haven't seen Cher...  but I get to see Elton John. Now, my mom is really the Elton fan but I have definitely come to appreciate him. I am so excited that we have some fun things to do together. We saw Neil Diamond (musical legends live I tell you!) once in 2007 and it was so much fun! I hope one day M will want to join us as she gets older!

Time will tell!

Frankencrayon

We survived Fall Back. Well... so far so good anyway.

Yesterday we made a Frankencrayon.

You know the titular character from Michael Hall's acclaimed book?  

Don't worry I had never heard of it either. But C has been fairly obsessed with The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home for a while so when he asked for Michael Hall's two crayon books from his book order, I figured he'd love them too. And he does. 

My kid loves crayons and art and reading. So... pretty much right up his alley. 

Books about crayons? Who knew? But anyway, we made a Frankencrayon and it was surprisingly harder than I anticipated. I went straight to melting them together and then bonding them with tape per the illustrations. Purple and orange bonded well from the start but green clearly had a higher melting point or something and it took a lot more TLC to get them to stick together. 

It was kind of fun though and since we used pieces that were in fact already broken we almost just redeemed them a little because now they are loved like no else. 

Today Frankencrayon has gone on many adventures and has been able to act out his book several times. And all for the low low cost of free. (And a little effort.) 

So if you need me today there is a good chance I'll be playing with crayons, reading about crayons or cleaning up crayons. 

Is Any Daylight Really Saved?

Before kids Madeline is dying inside. Dying. Because it's daylight savings time Fall Back tonight. And BKM was all like "an extra hour, let's stay up late, doing something fun and watch our phones switch over!" Seriously.

Because current Madeline is all like "Go to sleep immediately after the kids are in bed!" Because we are looking at a huge heaping dose of this: 

Woosh. Tomorrow morning is not going to be pretty. 

Today was it's own version of special too though. Never fear. Let's sum it all up by saying I have never been in an Old Navy with a line as long as the one I saw today. Never. And the employees had all the registers open too. 

Let me paint the picture for you appropriately. This is a quick little doodle of what our Old Navy is like. 

On your typical day the line to check out isn't that long. Maybe like the blue line that doesn't look blue in the picture but is surrounded by green. And they have like 2 registers open. But no. Today the line was the entire green line. Luckily they didn't have what we were looking for. And I rejoiced inside. 

Because we had just come from Michael's next door and it was so crowded there was a line of people waiting for our cart when we left. But that was at least a productive trip and we got some cute Thanksgiving crafts to do. 

So it redeemed the outing for sure! I like spending time with my kids doing fun things. Hopefully they remember those moments over the "It's so darn loud, please just be quiet for five seconds!" moments. 

And hopefully tomorrow goes smoother than I am currently anticipating. My prediction is that it won't. But I am open to being proven wrong! 

November

It's November. That feels crazy. It was just August yesterday people. But nevertheless it is in fact November.

We survived trick-or-treat. We started out by bopping over to Husband's Aunt and Uncle's house. They gave our kids Halloween treat bags with two books each and stickers and candy. Then we went around their cul-de-sac which is like twelve houses. M didn't even go to the last two houses, she was over it already. One of the house was the best house ever. They were handing out spiked hot apple cider to the adults. It was delicious.

We headed to our house to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood and M flat our refused. She just didn't want to. But C wanted to and he wanted to go with me. It was so super sweet going out just the two of us. Years past it's always been Husband going out so it was a real treat for me. He held my hand and we went from house to house. He did a good job with his manners. We did about 12 more houses and then headed back to our house. Even though we did ultimately buy a bag of candy just in case (my Native American name would for sure be Little High Hopes) we didn't get a single trick-or-treater. Boo.

And now it is November. Holy cow. M and I did the school Mass yesterday and she did a pretty good job. We bopped out just a smidge early because we had to pick C up across the street.

November came in as November usually does; gray, cold and damp. Yuck. November is definitely not my favorite but I am going to try really hard to not let it be a bad one. I bought a door decoration on Amazon so that at least my door is Festive.

We have hanging jack-o-lanterns for September/October and a Christmas Wreath. I also have a big yellow Sunflower from about May to the time I put up the jack-o-lanterns. Now I will have the Turkey for November and then I need to get a snowman or something for rest of the year.

November is here. I just can't believe it!