Theme Thursday is Back with (sun) Flare!

Today is Thursday. Many things are happening today. It's our preschool Halloween party. Breakfast for dinner night. I have book club. But... also it marks the return of Theme Thursday and I. am. excited.

Micaela is now hosting this very wonderful linkup that gives me stuff to blog about and practice my photography skills. I am not a great photographer but every once in a while, on Thursday, I manage to take an interesting one. 

This week we are doing a little throw back to the first Theme Thursday Theme of Sun Flare. Here was my original Theme Thursday picture... since we are throwing it back. 

My guy is so little here. It makes me cry. Want to know the slightly sad truth? This picture was taken with my cell phone that really cold morning. The same (now really old and still not that great) phone that I took this Theme Thursday's sun flare with:

The most perfect October day last Saturday and we played outside through the golden hour. It was perfect. It was amazing. The picture is just whatever. But it is a cool sun flare. 

I will get the good camera out going forward. (Let's be honest, sometimes the picture is still going to come from the cell phone.) 

Okay, happy Theme Thursday every body. Link it up! Do it! 

I Heart Food Show!

Yesterday was the worst kind of day. The no mail day that seems just like any other day. Sure, on Christmas it doesn't seem so weird for the mail not to come, but Federal Holidays that aren't observed by anyone other than Federal people leaves you wishing for the post man. Well, actually, we have a post lady but I digress.

Anyway, besides the no mail thing, the rest of the day was pretty good really. The weather has been wonderful. I know the Anne of Green Gables quote is everywhere right now, but seriously how glad are you that we live in a world with Octobers?! Because I am.

Today was kind of an exciting day, it was Husband's company's big food show. Their big event that they spend all year working toward. And I got to go! I had never been to one before. M and I dropped C off at school and headed out. The parking ramp was full. Like crazy crazy full. And the only spot I could find was between two really large trucks. That part was not fun. I should have tried to find another spot, but I didn't. I literally had to squeeze out of the car because I could barely open the door.

But we made it inside and it was a blast.

I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into but it was really a fun kind of trade show. I imagine many businesses have decent trade shows but the restaurant industry has to be a standout. A giant room with any food you can imagine. No seriously. Fruits, veggies, meat, sauces, nuts and every single person wants you to try some and to talk to you. (Because you'll probably buy something if you're not just there because of your husband.)

It was 80s theme which was fun and there was a photo booth which was also fun!

M was the belle of the ball, since we got there right at the beginning and things weren't super busy yet. We saw the President of the company, M's Godmother, (she works with Husband) Husband's boss and a boatload of other people. It was so great. 

I would love to go to another one without a kid and just blend in to watch. It was really very interesting. Everyone was in their element. Schmoozing and fooding and selling. I am so glad for this unique perspective on what Husband does. 

Definitely a good Tuesday!! Plus today's mail way made up for no mail yesterday. It's the little things you know!

My 53rd 7QT

one. Everything that is good about family time has happened this afternoon. My kids woke up from rest cheerful. Husband came home from the grocery store shortly after and everyone was very happy with this week's food selection. We played outside for 1.5 hours on a PERFECT October day. Had a pizza dinner with cake for dessert because my guy has been talking about cake for days. We are now snuggled into the living room for a family movie night, watching Curious George A Halloween Boofest and having apple slices with popcorn. (We like Curious George and do not agree with Kendra.)

This is perfection. I love my little family. 

two. I thought I had book club Thursday but it isn't until next week. I am not even going to lie to you right now. I didn't care one little tiny bit because I didn't care for the book at all (Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas) and I really needed to see what happened on Scandal after Olivia said "Yes."

That Shonda is so frustrating but I totally get why Olivia and Fitz can't really be together even though I am totally team Fitz! There were a few moments of total girly squees coming from my couch last night.

three. We gave up on Grey's Anatomy last season though I am SLOWLY watching on Netflix. It's just not the show I fell in love with. No Yang was bad. Killing Derek was just bad writing. And we did watch the first season of How To Get Away With Murder on Netflix, but it's just a little too intense to take week from week so we'll wait until we can see it in one fell swoop again. (Or really, in about a week's time.)

four. So we had a funeral this morning. There was a visitation yesterday and Husband attended on behalf of all of us. Which is good because while funerals aren't anyone's favorite activity, they can be beautiful in their own way. But visitations are a circle of Hell I am quite sure. The funeral was maybe one of the better ones I've been to, with the most real homily and eulogy, and one of our friends was the cantor and he has a beautiful voice.

It was my very first funeral procession and it was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. The people in my town clearly forgot the rules of funeral processions from drivers ed and someone almost t-bones the Cadillac directly in front of us. We just decided to NOT drive through the red light and caught up a few minutes later.

five. It's Husband's busiest work week of the year. His major event in on Tuesday and this is the first time I have ever been able to go! I am taking M while C is at school. It should be fun.

six. This is apparently my 53rd 7QT post. Well on this blog. On Snarky's Op-Ed which was my blog home from 2010-2012 I am sure there were many more but I didn't even converge the two blogs up and I don't want to go count. Okay fine, there were 26 over there. Amen.

Also related to link ups... THEME THURSDAY IS BACK. My favorite. I am excited. The end. Amen.

seven.  We had a play date yesterday and it was just the best. Sometimes a play date makes a week end on such a high note!! It was the first play date where M could play with her playmate. (Sort've. Brynn isn't very big yet.)

Okay, linking up with Kelly. To win all the prizes. Or try. 

Photo Dump!

You may have noticed that my last post about visiting the orchard didn't include any pictures. It wasn't because we didn't take any (though we truthfully didn't take many) but it is because they weren't with me. My mom took a few and I did with Husband's phone. 

Painting his pumpkin.

She was holding on to an apple and wouldn't let it go. So she propped her bottle up with it.

On the hayride.

Tuesday we went to the zoo for letter z week. We read a book about zebras at the zebra exhibit and showed the zebras our zebra stuffed animal. 

They had a great time on the trip! One of the Colobus monkeys had a baby on September 1 and that's the little white thing with an extra tail. Super cute little baby monkey. 

Today M and I were snuggling and she just looked up and smiled at me. So I smiled back. As it happens I was about to take a selfie so I got one like this. 

We've just been busy doing life. Reading stories and snuggling. It's been a good week!

Full Heart to Full Tummys.

Yesterday we woke up, packed up the car and headed out on an adventure. We took a trip to Husband's family orchard but it was a little different this year.

My parents met us in town and we had lunch. It's a little down home dive of a place but the food is good. As a bonus, they had updated the bathrooms since I was last there. It was so nice seeing my parents! We had a really nice lunch together and with full tummies we headed out to the farm.

This weekend was the orchard's festival weekend and as such it was pretty darn busy. And we didn't tell anyone we were coming. It was a hoot! I have never gotten so many actual double takes! My BIL was out driving the hayride when we got there so we had seen just about everyone else already but I went out and waved to him and his reaction of disbelief makes me smile for sure.

It was the perfect amount of crazy for my kids. Apples, picking pumpkins from the field, painting little pumpkins, playing in the corn bin, seeing the cows as it's a dairy farm as well. C was ALL about seeing the cows and his uncle did not disappoint him. My 10 year streak of not ever riding the hayride came to an end this year, because two kids and all that. It was fun. C loved it. He got to wave to his P-pa who was driving the tractor for most of the ride.

It was just an awesome day. We had a really nice time. Our car was loaded with things my dad brought back for us from France, an easel for C, pumpkins and a boatload of apples. So wonderful. My kids got cousin time, grandparent time, great-grandparent time, our little family time and a fun day spent outdoors. It was everything good and my heart is very full.

Now to make can applesauce and apple pie filling. And apple crisp. And just eating the apples. Life is going to be very tasty.

7QT: PSA and a lot of whatever.

one. A Little PSA Announcement.

I live on a fairly busy street. It's one of the major roads in town, 4 lanes with a speed that is generally 35 mph. (25 in the school zones, some of them 24/7 school zones.) There is a hospital 1.2 miles away and a fire station .6 miles from my house.Because of this, I see a lot of emergency vehicles in my day to day life. Going and coming. Sirens on and sirens off. But let's talk about when the sirens are on and you're also driving on the road.

You are supposed to pull over and stop.

So let's recap then. A fire truck has it's sirens on and is coming down the road towards you. You should:

A. Keep driving because they're on the other side of the yellow line.
B. Pull into the right lane ASAP and come to a complete stop.
C. Pull into the right lane and slow down so that you're rolling slowly.

The answer my friends is B. But you wouldn't believe how many people choose A or C. I'm serious, you wouldn't believe. Yesterday someone who chose option B was honked at for stopping. For a fire truck. Don't be that person.

two. We have a zoo field trip for school on Tuesday. My guy is pretty excited about it. He loves animals. Our zoo isn't cool like the zoos we vacation to, but it will be a good field trip.

three. We have a fun weekend planned. We haven't told the kids yet in case something falls through, but it involves some fall family fun. Not to be confused with Fall Family Fun Weekend which is schedule out for next weekend.

four. It's officially fall and it's October. I should probably take that trip to Old Navy to get a few more warm clothes season items for the kids who keep on growing.

five. This girl. 

She constantly surprises me by what she observes and then just does. Like when she was let out of the stroller and just started playing soccer. Or yesterday after watching some of school, she started flying the example kite craft right along with them. Also, she grabbed a crayon and started coloring with us this morning. And she holds a crayon better than C! She just amazes me. 

six. My guy and his "penguin zoo." He has taken to building zoo exhibits around the house. All the walrus in one spot. All the penguins in another. Etc. 

He asked me to take a picture of the penguin zoo. I did a fake picture with my hands and he said "No. On the phone please?" What could I say? I took the picture. 

seven. We are quickly approaching the "judge all the stores" for their holiday behavior. (Staying open on Thanksgiving, closing on Thanksgiving, Christmas stuff out too soon, Christmas stuff gone too soon *ahem Hobby Lobby* , etc.) Staples is already patting themselves on the back for closing on Thanksgiving.

I have an opinion on the matter and it's all right here.  I will add to this that, especially now, with Husband having to work on Friday that shopping Thanksgiving night makes the most sense should I shop. Someone is home with the kids, no one is missing work and I'm not a morning person. I still won't shop that day. But I am not against it. 

Okay. Happy Friday. Enjoy your weekend and link up with Kelly. Because apparently there's prizes. 

All The Things That Need Said

Howdy. So today was my second K teaching day.

We had a very good day. It all started with putting Fruit Loops on spaghetti noodles stuck in play-dough. We read Katy No Pockets. We made kites using construction paper/tissue paper on contact paper taped to the window. They turned out very cute. We flew our kites to the "Let's Go Fly A Kite" song from Mary Poppins as well as other music time favorites. We had Kix cereal and some cheese for snack. We put on aprons with pockets and began kangaroos. We hopped between two tables color sorting counting cubes. Then we did an I spy the letter K in a poem. Of course we ended with playtime.

In other news...

I know that some people are all aghast that Christmas decorations are already out, but I am a fan. I am trying so hard to have all of my Christmas prep done by November and I am right on track for that. I wanted to buy stockings this year. In 2010 for our first married Christmas we bought stockings. Then the next year when C was in utero we bought a not-really-matching-but-coordinates-okay stocking for C. And last year, Husband and I shared a stocking because we couldn't find anything quite right for M but we wanted her to have one.

So it was time for new stockings. And I spent a lot of time looking at a lot of different company's stockings. There were some that I liked, but the catch was the personalization was capped at 9 or 10 letters. I was so happy to pick a classic name, it never occurred to me that I couldn't put it on things. But sure enough, it's very hard to find places that let you personalize 11 letters.

But not at Merry Stockings! (Not a sponsored post, just a big fan now!) They have many many different stockings to choose from but they are all very cute. And while some styles do have a 10 character cap, other styles don't!! We got the Cable Knit Stockings, the girls have white stockings with red names and the boys have red stockings with white names. Another major plus, is the cost of the embroidery is included in the price of the stocking. NOT the case at most other stockings I saw. Some wanted $8 extra per stocking for the names to be embroidered! Not charging extra makes the stockings at Merry Stockings even more reasonable.

This is the image of what we got from their site. 

Our stockings came today and I just love them. They are very generously sized and a great thick material so they'll stay nice for a long time. I am so happy to have found them and I just thought I'd let you all know in case you yourself are in need of new Christmas stockings this year. 

Have a wonderful Thursday!