My Week With My Girl

Holy Cow this week went fast!! I will tell you a little about my week with my best gal.

We became ladies who lunch!

At the fanciest joint in town! It was a real treat for her to go inside. Check out that illegal cheese I had them add to the "hamburger." I still think that move was dumb. 

Yesterday was super crisp but GORGEOUS. M was invited to a party for her friend. I feel like the unicorn masks hide the identity of the kids enough for me to post this picture from the party. It was the sweetest party at a park, they made unicorn masks, ate lunch and cupcakes and played on the playground. It was perfect. This isn't the whole group but it was darling!

At preschool this week they worked on the letter C! M loves cats! 

Check out her new jammies! 

I don't know if you can tell but there are cats on the knees and the shirt days "Feline Sleepy." I can't stand how grown up she looks in these jammies. Practically a teenager. 

She is so smart! She's really taken off with writing her name and other words. She asked me how to spell water yesterday and then she wrote it! Slow down, kid. But really, life is good. And we are ready for a weekend!

Cross your fingers that soccer isn't awful tomorrow. (So either let it be dry or thunderstorming, because playing in the non-thunder rain seems less than fun.)

October!

Holy October Batman!

We had a soccer game on Saturday. M's poor team. It keeps raining on Tuesday so they barely practice. And the team is pretty small with only 10 kids. (6 play at a time.) And two kids honest to goodness flat out refuse to play combined with at least someone missing on game days... makes for a long game where most kids play the whole game. They get so tired! And we are not a super aggressive team to start with so, yeah. Good thing it's a learning experience!

Yesterday was a pancake breakfast after church and then there was a big group picnic. It was a dreary day but it felt very British. Boots and sweaters, a bonfire, good food made it so the kids had a bunch of fun. They got to dig potatoes out of the ground, see horses, go for a tractor ride... it was a blast and the kids slept so well!!

And now it's October!

I have no shame when I tell you I've been listening to Christmas music a lot lately. It's so fun! And I am not in full blown skip over the other holidays, it's just that Christmas music makes me feel cheerful. But we will switch to our Halloween playlist here I am sure.

And I have no pictures to share... so...

here are some pumpkins. Because it's October.

I Am Woman

I am woman, hear me roar! Yes, like the old school Helen Reddy song. Today I finished a book. A good book.

It's been a long time since I've read a book that I've thoroughly appreciated. I read a lot. But lately, nothing has been that amazing. Or they've been well written but not really my cup of tea you know? This one was a Resse Witherspoon book club pick and I let it sit... because... it's called

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal and that title is not exactly me. But it is so funny, and sweet. It's intriguing and it's about women. There are a bunch of Punjabi widows who do wind up writing some stories but definitely think PG-13 romance in that it's more suggestive than dirty. But the book is about so much more than the widow's stories. And I really enjoyed it.

Then M and I went to get gas and fill up my tire with air. And we hit the grocery store for cupcake liners so we could make my pumpkin muffins! Today fall has really hit, C wore pants to school! The perfect day for pumpkin chip muffins and they turned out beautifully.

Then... M and I went to O'Reilly Auto Parts, and thanks to Google and YouTube I walked in knowing exactly what I needed. (It should be noted that O'Reilly is really, honestly and truly, the closest business to my house so this whole journey took about 10 minutes total, driveway to driveway.) We came home and then, again thanks to YouTube, I changed the rear turn signal bulb in my car all by myself! As someone who really appreciates turn signals, I am relieved that I accomplished it and that when we go to school pick up it will be working!

I am obviously celebrating my mad skills by enjoying a muffin before we have to go pick up C from school. Oh! And I ran the dishwasher so... I'm feeling pretty good about how today has gone if you wanna know.

I am feeling strong! And invincible! And I apologize if I got that song in your head but it's been a while since I've truly felt like I could do anything.

Have a phenomenal Wednesday.

Monday Musings

Our week is off and running. But our kitchen sink is not. Gah! We have a plumber coming later today to help our sink drain. Husband is pretty handy but he did what he could and now it's time for an expert.

I have read an article about how the trade industry is dying and that plumbers are in especially short supply. I am going to be honest with you, I wish I felt called to be a plumber because they are always everyone's hero and apparently are well compensated on average. Alas, my heart lies not in pipes. Seems like a pretty good gig though.

We put up our few fall decorations now that it is actual FALL! M was aching to help me hang them up. We really don't have many decorations. My favorite is our ghostie garland for the kitchen. And our happy pumpkin door decoration.

Both pictures were taken by the resident helper extraordinaire. I can't believe she is going to be 4 in less than a month! My heart! 

After getting out of school early on Thursday because of the heat, I am glad to say Fall weather has really found us. Okay, sort've. It's still getting to the mid 70s, but it's still cool during parts of the days and I like it! 

I have all the ingredients for Billie Jo's Pumpkin Chip Muffins (she says the recipe is from Taste of Home but I've been making them from her blog for years now so they're hers in my heart.) but I don't want to make them until I have a working sink. These muffins are delicious and fall like and it makes a whole bunch! They freeze really well too! 

I also think that this week's breakfast for dinner night (it's a weekly occurrence) will probably be pumpkin pancakes. I am not a big pumpkin beverage gal but pumpkin food is pretty great.

In other fun news, I added a huge box of crayons to our crayon tub today! My kids love to color but they can never actually handle getting them back in the Crayola box so they just go in the bin. But this box came with its own cool sharpener, glitter and metallic crayons and fresh new crayons are so fun anyway. C will be so surprised when he comes home!

That is the goings on of our Monday! Have a lovely one!

Hello Friday

Hello Friday! It hardly seems possible that it's already Friday and yet completely possible? Time is funny like that. Clearly, I have settled into an actual routine now and so life is feeling a lot more in control.

I got a little cold this week, the beginning of school year germ fest you know. Luckily it wasn't anything too bad and with just M home during the days mostly I was able to take the good advice of Daniel Tiger and rest. Delightful.

Also... just to note here, the Chick-Fil-A chicken noodle soup is SO good! And you can get it through the drive-thru so that is a game changer for sick days I do believe. I am a huge fan of making my own soup but when you're not feeling great mostly you want quick and easy.

Our week has been pretty good otherwise. This kid finished his responsibility and organization punch card and got to pick a prize from the prize box. No one is surprised he picked a Mo Willems activity book.

It's fun for me to have both kids in school now. I got the bathroom cleaned yesterday and went grocery shopping. This is M looking at C's classroom. I kinda love that both kids are sort've in the picture but not really. 

My dad sent the kids binoculars and so that has been a real fun treat. Lots of bird watching and looking at things lately. 

We definitely enjoyed our cupcakes from the cake walk. 

And really, that was our week. Happy Fall and weekend friends!

Super Saturday

We had a busy but fun Saturday. M had her very first soccer game ever! 

She played very well! She was a little upset that she didn't score a goal but she got some good kicks in and had good hustle! 

We celebrated by having a Steak n Shake lunch afterward. 

M was very tired, it was back up near 90 with no breeze and the soccer field was HOT. She perked up after her hot dog and milkshake. 

After a restful afternoon, we went to our school's back to school block party. It was amazing! We've never been before and I just don't know why not. With a wristband, you could go on two carnival rides, climb a rock climb, 2 bounce houses, 1 inflatable obstacle course, photo booth, inflatable pitching game, plus Kona Ice, popcorn, hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages! The only things that cost extra were the dunk tank and cake walk.

Both kids won the cake walk and then we gave our friends our last cake walk ticket (Because 12 cupcakes are plenty.) and then they won with our ticket so I guess we were lucky. 

It was a busy but super fun Saturday! I love spending time with my family. 

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

She just cracks me up so much!