7 Things: Shoes and Other Things

1. Well here we go again. It's the dress all over again. 

The kids and I think this shoe is definitely teal and gray but what say you? Do you see pink and white? I guess it actually is in fact pink and white which makes me 0/2. I definitely still think the dress is white and gold too even if I have since been proven wrong.

2. Yesterday was M's due date. A date I will never forget. And I'm not going to lie to you, I have just the tiniest bit of PTSD about these next few days. Not like actual PTSD but my heart races a little bit remembering the waiting and the feeling like one of the doctors wasn't listening to me. 10 days still seems like a long time to me even this three years later.

3. I am pretty excited about Scentsy right now. I try really hard to not spam my small blog audience about it. It for real is the smallest of side hustles just for my own discount but this past week I got a few orders from some new people which seriously like never happens. There's a special sale today and Monday and I just all around am excited about padding the Christmas budget up a bit.

4. This week was the first time in a long time that pants and shoes with socks were required. Only because it was a long time I had no idea that C's tennis shoes were not the right size. And it must be a fairly recent shoe spurt because I just bought him dress shoes at the end of August that now are not the right size either.

But I found him some great shoes on Zappos that both met all my requirements in a shoe and his requirement that they be a "good color." His favorite colors are green and blue so these fit the bill. They came today and he likes them but he is sad they aren't maroon because all of a sudden that is his most talked about color.

5. We've been playing sensory table a lot lately. Right now we have popcorn in it. A little mom hack for you is putting it inside a cheap swimming pool. The kernels that slosh over the edge are contained and not all over my basement floor.

It works super well! I like to play some classical music while they play and it becomes a really calm time. And we all like that!

6. M is going to be... what else but Minnie Mouse for Halloween. Not red Minnie but pink Minnie. Obviously. We have her costume and it's super cute. But my question is whether you think we should put black clothes under it. It seems kind of weird, but at the same time it looks too much like just a polka dot dress on a little blonde girl as is. 

Here are some examples. (All not the same costume or M.)

As is:

Just Tights:

Leggings and a shirt

It does tend to be chilly here on Halloween though who even knows? So I was leaning towards the shirt and a tights/leggings but now I just don't know. I feel like if I do the shirt, it needs gloves and then that's a whole extra little bit of $$ I wasn't planning on. 

7. It was a big week with lots to do and lots of places to be so I have't finished a book since Sunday. But I read Ms. Bixby's Last Day over the weekend and it is just so touching. It's YA but leaning toward middle school age. Oh my, this should be required reading for teaching students. I cried reading it. This book reminds me a lot of Wonder which should also be required reading for humanity. (I can't wait for the movie!) 

LWYMMD

This week has been busy everyone. Lots to do. Lots of appointments and scheduling and not a lot of much else.

So today after a long morning I was driving to pick up M from a friend's house. I was listening to the radio* and "Look What You Made Me Do" came on.

I can admit it. I'm a Taylor fan. Even if the actual video is a little creepy and we will only be watching the lyric video in our house thank you very much.

So anyway, I was driving. And singing. And I drove straight past my turn. Which was funny because I was singing the lyric... "Look what you just made me do..." So yeah, Taylor, look what you made me do! I missed my turn. But I drove around the block and whatever it was fine. But it was really funny in the moment.

*I say radio like there were other fancy options in my vehicle but... it's radio or sweet sweet silence due to an unfortunate CD jam situation. But it's all good, I like the radio!*

And tomorrow is Friday!

And that is the truth. See you tomorrow party people.

Red Night and Crafting

Saturday night unwittingly became our RED night. How could that be? Well we told our dear sweet children as they were getting ready for rest that if they took a good rest we could go someplace fun.

"Is it Red Robin?" M exclaimed in our room. She comes running into her room where I am sitting waiting for her. "Mommy, Daddy said we get to go to Red Robin!"

"I love Red Robin! I want to get a cheeseburger!" C starts yelling.

Husband and I look at each other. Red Robin was not what we discussed. In fact our entire discussion involved... the thought that maybe we could go out to dinner. But since they had it in their sweet little heads it was going to be Red Robin I guess that became the plan.

They took a good rest and quiet time. We went to Red Robin.

Afterwords, we continued our night out on the town at the Red Store. (Known to most people as Target because they use actual names of stores.) We went in for liquid starch and this floor lamp for C's room. (His bit the dust.)

They didn't have liquid starch. They did have the floor lamp. Hallelujah!

We spent a great deal of time browsing and looking at things we didn't buy. Including but not limited to every single thing that had Minnie Mouse on it. My kid likes Minnie Mouse. She did manage to get a bike helmet with Minnie on it, because she had outgrown her other helmet. They also had Minnie Pull-Ups and that she said would help her potty train. Mmmhmm, SURE it well. But into the cart they went because seriously at this point I am willing to try anything.

We also got glue for me and my craft. Because darn it all I was going to craft this weekend. Way way back when you could still have a straight up Halloween party with costumes, my mom liked to help with the holiday parties. Her specialty for the Halloween party was making cheesecloth ghosties. She would bring them in and each kid could put eyes on and then either a bow or a bow tie. They're cute. And festive. And I wanted to make them with our kids.

Last year I bought the cheesecloth and couldn't find liquid starch to save my life. Well again this year. So I found a new recipe with equal parts Elmer glue and water so I bought glue. Saturday night I created the ghosts and this afternoon we were able to decorate them. The set up.

And completed. We made six. Two we are mailing to the cousins because last weekend when we saw them we told them we would make them a craft. I keep my promises.

C wanted to do two bow ties because he likes blue AND green. That's logic.

Back to target, I needed felt for the bows. The regular square shaped felt was $12.99! But the pumpkin shaped felt was $5.99. So we obviously got the pumpkin. Only now I have a lot of felt pumpkins. I told the kids we can paint them sometime but they wanted to try them out during our crafting time, so we made these:

I think M's looks A LOT like Princess Poppy from Trolls

But I am told it is in fact... you guessed it. Minnie. Because of the bow. Obviously.

So that was our weekend. We painted the town red on Saturday and did some crafts today. And in the grown up craft world Husband and I also were able to make some apple butter and get it canned. So hooray for processing apples. We didn't make it to applesauce or pie filling yet but... we will soon.

What I've Been Watching (And What I Will Watch.)

1. This is Us

What can I say? This show is all around well done. Great writing, great acting. It's honest and well done. If you haven't hopped on the train you're probably not going to because of anything I write here but this is television at it's finest. I am definitely in the Randall/Beth camp if I have to choose but they're all pretty great!!

2. Fuller House

This show gets a bad rep but for real it has come into it's own with this new season and was actually really funny. I really enjoyed this little half of a season and I look forward to seeing the rest in December. I don't know if I am team Steve or Matt, but I think I am going to go Matt because there's a lot less broken hearts that way. (Which probably means the writers will go with Team Steve...) I truly think this show's niche audience is for those who enjoyed Full House as a kid and are now parents themselves. The thing I like is that the show doesn't take itself too seriously. It's not This Is Us and it's not trying to be.

3. American Housewife

Well this show is my life. I am Katie Otto. Minus the extra kid and their ages. But otherwise... spot on. We watched the whole first season on Hulu this summer and have so far watched the first two of this season. I am way not a sitcom person but for some reason this one works for me. This past week at the end? With the owl? We were laughing so hard I missed the last few lines of the show. I can assure you that doesn't happen often with me.

4. The Good Place

We just (like two weeks ago) finished the first season on Netflix. It reminds me of Pushing Daisies in that you don't really know where it's going. I liked it well enough to watch it next summer on Netflix but not enough to tune in when it's on. The fake swears are my favorite.

5. Grey's Anatomy

I am so so mad that we caught up over the summer, we were like three seasons behind.  Now I feel invested again in the characters and I want to know what happens. I have not succumbed to Shondaland but I may yet. 14 seasons is NOT shabby but I guess I hope they end the show on a higher note than Meredith getting early onset Alzheimer's and just breaking down. (But who even says this is the end?!)

6. The Marvelous Miss Masiel.

I LOVED the pilot and I am so stoked that Amazon ordered two seasons. My love for Amy Sherman-Palladino runs deep and I will literally follow her where she leads. (Or to the edge of the desert.) This show is witty, smart and fast. I am really excited to keep watching soon!

7. Vampirina

In kid show world we actually really like Vampirina on Disney Jr. It's super cute and not at all annoying to watch as a parent. I don't know what my kids dig about it exactly but I like that it's sweet and touching and has some real life applicable lessons mixed in. Some great actors voicing characters too.

Apples and Pumpkins and Muffins

Well it's October! We spent this past weekend with family at the orchard. It was just the very best weekend and my love tank is full.

Friday at home was not good. But I am not going to focus on that. I was stressed and unhappy but we went and picked C up from school with a packed up car and we hit the road right from school. A few hours later we made it to our favorite restaurant in town to meet my parents! I am now convinced that every time I visit my inlaws my parents should come too! It is just the best.

The kids went and had a camp out with my parents in the hotel. They got a room that had bunk beds so they thought it was a lot of fun. Husband and I went out to the farm to spend some time with my BIL and SIL. Our kids go to bed a ton earlier than their kids so we rarely get adult time together so it was quite nice.

Saturday morning Husband and I went on a tour of his high school. They had remodeled it fairly recently and his reunion coordinator set up a tour. I had actually never been in the high school at all and it was really neat. They have some really impressive facilities for the size of the town. No wonder they are consistently ranked in the state!

We went and met our children and my parents at the park. C and M LOVE this park so much and I love it too.

Often there is no one on this playground but after we had been there a few minutes several vans full of kids and teenagers pulled up so we switched to another play area. On the walk over (the town only has one big park but there's lots of different playgrounds in it) my kids picked some flowers for my mom. 

After we left the park, Husband took the kids to the farm and I went with my parents for a pit stop at ShopKo and then to a winery that is right nearby the farm/orchard. They make a wine with some of the apples and I had just never been. We sampled well and I got IDed! We bought a bunch of bottles which makes us seem like wine drinkers when we really aren't! There were some recipes we wanted to try with some of the wines so we bought the ones we'd need. 

We joined the rest of the family at the orchard and after some time M, my mom and I headed back to the hotel for rest time. (She doesn't nap often but I will be darned if I don't try!) She promptly passed out because she stayed up late and then ran around with all the fresh air. The other kids headed out to the orchard and Husband took this picture.

I just wish we had gotten one with M in it!! 

Saturday evening Husband went to his reunion and I stayed at his Grandma's house with the kids. His 85 year old grandma kicked my tush in Bananagrams. But in my defense, she is the QUEEN of knowing all the two and three letter words that no one has ever heard of. So I had great long real words and she had all these short ones. She still won, but I do feel good about my showing! 

Sunday was a festival day at the orchard. It was NEVER our intention to visit on a festival weekend but we didn't plan the high school reunion. It's always super busy. But the kids got to paint some pumpkins which they love doing.

And we all took the hayride out to the orchard and M got to pick a pumpkin. She got a good one. C picked his the day before when they were out there. God bless my inlaws for growing pumpkins and giving them to us as well as a bounty of apples.

We left Sunday afternoon about 3:00 and headed home with a car full of apples, pumpkins and dirty farm laundry. (Oh my gosh the grime. I know I could never live there but I couldn't take the grime!)

Monday brought a long day of unpacking and cleaning and I finally got a new phone. (Which is why there aren't very many pictures and why my Friday was not super swell.)

We've brought October in by watching Curious George's Boo Fest three times already. And I made some more muffins this morning. Because it's October! It was fabulous and chilly this weekend but now it's back near 80 so I turned my AC back on (again!) and I am just pretending in here.

So that's basically what we know. Life is fairly normal and this weekend we are going to put up applesauce, apple pie filling and apple butter. 

Special Mom and M time!

Hello and happy Thursday from over here where maybe the cooler weather will stick around for a bit now. Cue my grin over turning the air conditioning off again! This week has been chalk full of adventures. On Monday while C was at school M and I went to Carter's. The last time I took her I swore I wouldn't again and man I wish I had stuck to that plan. But I didn't. 

You may or may not know that Minnie Mouse has a Bowtique where she sells bows and bow ties too you know? Well our resident Minnie Mouse fan found a Christmas shirt with bows all over it. Except... two things... it' ugly and white. 

Now I am well aware of the fact that a girl's got opinions on what she wears. I get that. But since she's two and not say ten, I still hold the overwhelming vote. And my vote is that the shirt is ugly. And since it's white it would inevitably stain on the first wear. So the girl was vetoed. She wasn't super happy with that choice and we spent a great long time walking around the tiny little section and looking at the same three things. We settled for this dress: 

Which has printed silver bows on the tutu. I will tell you that I thought this wasn't super cute on the hanger but it was better than the white shirt. Anyway, once she got it on at home though it is a lot cuter than I anticipated. So... okay. 

Then on Tuesday M and I went to Walgreens to get C a new toothbrush and we came away with this: 

A Minnie Mouse pumpkin. Of course. I am not super big into "tacky" decorations but her birthday is so close to Halloween and it is going to be a Happy Helpers party. (Minnie and Daisy on the Roadster Racers show) So from my perspective it will double as a birthday decoration too. We did also get the tooth brush in case you were worried we got sidetracked. 

Yesterday was school picture day for C.

We practiced smiling in the car line so hopefully his picture will turn out. Note his nice shirt which was the whole reason for going to Carter's in the first place. After school he had a playdate with his friend. I dropped him off and M was SO sad that she didn't get to go too. So we went to the grocery store for cake mix and we baked a cake. And she got to decorate it! 

I didn't take a picture before we ate some but you'll still get a pretty good idea of what it looked like. 

It was just a pile of pink sprinkles that I was able to distribute out a little bit more than the large pile she dumped on the cake. Luckily it was a very tasty cake. My kids don't tend to love cake for whatever reason but they ate the heck out of their piece last night! They do really like red velvet cake we've learned, which works out because I love it too. 

I don't think there will be much (if any) adventure today but it has been a fun week with my girl and accomplishing tasks. (With a few splurges just because.) 

Best Laid Plans

We have been trying to pack in some family fun but it hasn't been the easiest thing to do. I know I have written about how M wakes up at the crack of dawn. We have an OK to Wake clock and it doesn't make a hill of beans of difference in what time she wakes up. Apparently staying in bed awake isn't boring enough to go back to sleep.

Well because of preschool being in the afternoon she has all but done away with her nap. It's terrible and I cry. Occasionally she will still crash but it's like once a week or so now.

She's over tired my daughter of mine. And it makes doing anything really hard.

Friday night we planned a pizza party while we watched "The new Beauty and the Beast" on Netflix. C was super excited. But Little Miss Overtired was too wired to watch and wound up running around the living room distracting everyone.

Saturday we went to our 4th annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. It was probably the most planned out visit for us which was good. But alas... it was probably the worst of all four we've attended. It was HOT (low 90s) and M was again overtired. So she just wanted to run and run and run. And... they didn't launch any balloons. Which wasn't even for a good reason like weather so I was a little annoyed.

We stayed for a while to watch some of the balloons inflate but then I was over it. So we went home.

In bright news, M seems to have turned a corner on behavior at church. Which Hallelujah! We have found the recipe of what works for her. Which probably isn't the same at all as what works for other kids. I read a lot of blog posts and articles on how to get kids to sit well at Mass. My favorite is "don't let their feet touch the ground" HA! Nope. Also she is the girl who cannot be bribed so donuts never work for us. SAD. (I like donuts!)

What works for M is a Magna Doodle and a bag of crackers for "distraction" items. Nothing more nothing less. If she acts up or gets too loud she has to go to the car. Both of us bring our keys so either parent can execute this threat. The gathering space isn't a big enough threat. It has to be the car. If anyone goes to the car then everyone loses the chance to play on the playground. This has caused C to encourage M to listen and behave since his reward is tied to hers.

But she really has been doing better, so that's good. Light on the horizon and all that.

So that's how our weekend went. :) Two thwarted family fun nights and a decent Mass on Sunday.