skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This morning I woke-up super excited to use my leftover pumpkin pie mix from the smoothies and the cookies to make myself a pumpkin latte. I brewed the shot of espresso, mixed the milk, pumpkin, and spices, combined the two and took a sip. It was heavenly. I had to make myself grab the camera before guzzling it. I snapped this picture, and then took my next sip. Hmmm.. "Is that a clump of cinnamon?" I asked myself. I spit it out, and then screamed in horror. The fly that I couldn't catch last night landed in my coffee... Poor Sierra began to cry from my scream, so I went to comfort her. For the next hour, she kept repeating, "Mama bug in foffee!" Needless-to-say, I was quite bummed, (and totally disgusted). But, I had to laugh, as well... part of my devotion read, "... When little things don't go as you had hoped, look to Me lightheartedly and say, 'Oh well.' This simple discipline can protect you from being burdened with an accumulation of petty cares and frustrations. If you practice this diligently, you will make a life-changing discovery: you realize that most of the things that worry you are not important." From "Jesus Calling," by Sarah Young. AMEN!
The phone rang -- it was a friend I was suppose to meet at the library, but Sierra threw-up this morning so I had to cancel. We hadn't talked in quite a while, and we shared a bit of our homeschooling experience. She asked me if there were days I thought it wasn't worth it... I said yes, but then I try to think about what I really want to accomplish... beyond the reading, writing, and math! Right then the girls showed me this sign and told me they were throwing a "We love mom and we love Jesus party." YES; it is totally worth it!
Tonight Daniel came home with Sprinkles, again. I'm not sure I ever blogged about this in the past because I always ate the cupcakes too fast to take a picture! But, someone often brings Sprinkles to the fire station and I am often the lucky recipient. After dinner, the girls both turned down the cupcakes for a pumpkin cookie. (Crazy kids!) I love to look up what the dots mean online. This time it was red velvet and dark chocolate! I only meant to try a little of each... but somehow half of one and all of the other disappeared!
You can't see it or feel it around here, but you can certainly smell it and taste it; Fall is coming! I wanted to make this week a little bit special in anticipation of my favorite season. My goal has been to get this place cleaned-up enough to actually decorate on Friday, the first day of fall. Not sure that is going to happen, but at least we are enjoying a few hints of fall around here!
For fun, we made some pumpkin pie-smelling playdough and I let the girls play with it and orally do their spelling rather than writing it down. Of course, the fun doesn't come without a price, (eh-hem MESS!) See Exhibit A:
Who knew that ground cloves, when poured onto a burner, could cause a huge flame of fire? Poor Sierra was frozen in shock for about 5 minutes after that. Rest assured, nobody was actually hurt in the making of this playdough!
And, what is fall without a little baking? Today we made some iced pumpkin cookies. The big girls were busy making a mess playing with playdough once again, while allowing Sierra to be my mess maker helper. (Side note: If you ever come over to my house in the middle of a school day, please be warned; it is not pretty!)
While enjoying our iced pumpkin cookies, we worked on one of my girls' favorite activities; Mad Libs. I love how they get a kick out of the silliness of it all! I found some fall Mad Libs on Classroom Jr, (though be warned there is a "then" that should be a "than" on the apple picking one!)
"Leafy" grilled cheese...
... And, pumpkin smoothies! Let me tell you -- these were a huge hit! Sierra didn't stop sucking until it was gone, and even Miss Natalie, (not a smoothie fan), finished hers! Allison didn't even try them, which is highly unusual for her. But, quite frankly I was happy to drink hers! I LOVED them! Here's what I did:
Pumpkin Pie Smoothies
ice
vanilla yogurt
2 bananas
pumpkin pie puree
sweet tea
Pumpkin pie spice
I will be doing this again very soon... probably tomorrow morning! :) We have lots more fall to come; stay tuned!
...A little encouragement!
As fun as our weekend was, sometimes having too much fun overstimulates my kiddos and they get overly tired, overly cranky, and overly sensitive. The girls were actually doing pretty good yesterday until I went to take their picture at dinner time. I'll let you guess who is running away; apparently something her sister said inadvertently caused some hurt feelings.
Of course, with our Japanese feast at hand, I wanted us to enjoy the meal. So... as we sat down and began dinner, I suggested that each one of us say something we like about the person sitting across from us. I went first, and bragged on Papa. That was easy enough. Both girls had their hands up just itching to go next about their sister. That in itself warmed my heart...
(Poor Sierra got left out, but I think she was content eating her rice.)
Anyway, it honestly turned out to be one of the best evenings. The girls ate well, and truly complimented each other sincerely. They couldn't help but hug each other... so I told them to hold that pose while I grabbed my camera. I will have to be more creative next time, but somehow come up with the same kind of idea wrapped in a different package. Sometimes you just need a sincere compliment!
What a fun-filled weekend! Unfortunately, we had to miss one baby shower and one birthday party... why do all the fun things seem to happen on the same weekend? Anyway, this was our third annual OCFA picnic, but the first time we actually remembered to bring a camera!
This sweet 11-month-old dalmation named "Spotty" had her toenails painted red and posed all day long on the seat of an old steamer engine for pictures.
One of the highlights of the picnic for the girls was paddling this canoe. Sierra and Daniel had a turn as well, and we all enjoyed the ride. It made me long to take the girls to the camp I worked at in Montana when I was in college... some day!
Of course, the swings were the other favorite ride, and I got sick just watching! I don't know what happened to me... they were my favorite as a kid, too! I think they went on them 4 or 5 times.
Snow cones...
Corn Dogs...
... And lots more yummy food! What do you do when you're a kid after stuffing yourself silly with junk food?
Why, jump, of course!
Even Sierra wanted to give it a try...
... (but quickly discovered it was not for her!) None of my girls have been bouncers. As hard as Grandma tried, she could not get them happy to jump in their Johnny Jumps hanging in the doorway. If this baby in my tummy comes out as jumpy as it is in my tummy, perhaps we'll have our first Johnny Jump lover!
The girls wanted to jump one more time, so we sat in the cool shade of the tree and waited for them one last time. Despite her exhaustion, Sierra was quite content just hanging out with Mom and Dad.
We left just before it ended and stopped to say hi to Daniel's parents on the way home. The girls were very tired, but very good on the ride. What a relief! :) We also stopped at the Japanese Market to pick-up some food for dinner. I'll have to blog about that, too! For now, I need to plan school for tomorrow and get to bed.
This morning I woke-up super excited to use my leftover pumpkin pie mix from the smoothies and the cookies to make myself a pumpkin latte. I brewed the shot of espresso, mixed the milk, pumpkin, and spices, combined the two and took a sip. It was heavenly. I had to make myself grab the camera before guzzling it. I snapped this picture, and then took my next sip. Hmmm.. "Is that a clump of cinnamon?" I asked myself. I spit it out, and then screamed in horror. The fly that I couldn't catch last night landed in my coffee... Poor Sierra began to cry from my scream, so I went to comfort her. For the next hour, she kept repeating, "Mama bug in foffee!" Needless-to-say, I was quite bummed, (and totally disgusted). But, I had to laugh, as well... part of my devotion read, "... When little things don't go as you had hoped, look to Me lightheartedly and say, 'Oh well.' This simple discipline can protect you from being burdened with an accumulation of petty cares and frustrations. If you practice this diligently, you will make a life-changing discovery: you realize that most of the things that worry you are not important." From "Jesus Calling," by Sarah Young. AMEN!
The phone rang -- it was a friend I was suppose to meet at the library, but Sierra threw-up this morning so I had to cancel. We hadn't talked in quite a while, and we shared a bit of our homeschooling experience. She asked me if there were days I thought it wasn't worth it... I said yes, but then I try to think about what I really want to accomplish... beyond the reading, writing, and math! Right then the girls showed me this sign and told me they were throwing a "We love mom and we love Jesus party." YES; it is totally worth it!
Tonight Daniel came home with Sprinkles, again. I'm not sure I ever blogged about this in the past because I always ate the cupcakes too fast to take a picture! But, someone often brings Sprinkles to the fire station and I am often the lucky recipient. After dinner, the girls both turned down the cupcakes for a pumpkin cookie. (Crazy kids!) I love to look up what the dots mean online. This time it was red velvet and dark chocolate! I only meant to try a little of each... but somehow half of one and all of the other disappeared!
