The boys have been itching to help their great uncles harvest their corn (and Grandpa Paul was pretty excited, too). Today was the day!
The rides in the tractor, and then the combine, and then the feed truck were almost too much excitement for their little bodies to take.
Thanks to Eric, Mark, and Justin for taking the time to entertain our little guys!
We spent the beautiful fall morning (I feel like a broken record bragging about this amazing weather), carving this year's pumpkin display. Chase requested a "spooky spider" and Robbe requested a "boo" (a ghost).
I wouldn't say it was our most impressive carving session, but we had fun and the quality family time was appreciated by all.
**Note: I promise to post a pic of the carved pumpkins when we light them up. Stay tuned.
Nothing screams fall like heaping serving of apple crisp. It's probably my favorite dessert. And, thanks to my Aunt Pam, I finally found the perfect recipe. I realized what I need the most out of apple crisp is the crunchy, sweet oats + brown sugar topping. This recipe has plenty of that. Hope you enjoy.
3 cups apples, peeled and sliced (I prefer Cortland, of course)
Cinnamon
2/3 stick butter
1/3 cup flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spread apples in a greased 9x9 pan. You want a decent layer of apples so add extra slices if you think it looks a little sparse. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon.
Melt butter and stir in the brown sugar.
Add flour and oatmeal to the butter + sugar. Mix to a crumbly texture. Sppon over apples.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Serves six
Double recipe for 9x13 pan
**Again, special shout out to my Aunt Pam for coming to the rescue with this recipe years ago (October of 2009, to be exact). I hope she's not offended by the *small* tweaks I made. :)
Our go-to open gym has been upgraded. I will always look back at the Sherwood Rec Center and the Coffield Rec Center with warm nostalgia, but man if this place isn't an amazing upgrade from the open gyms the boys have grown up in.
Bouncy obstacle course? Check. Tons of vehicles + trucks? Check. Various toy stations including trains, legos, + puzzles? Check. The downside, though? It's not free (that's probably how it can be so awesome). $3.50/kid, so I won't complain...too much.
Yeah, I think the Eau Claire Indoor Sports Center will be a fine way to spend an occasional cold-weather morning.
This was the view from the playground we visited yesterday. Not too bad, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing. Â
Here's how I spent my afternoon. Turns out sweeping + raking leaves is no joke, especially when you, once again, have two *helpers* offering their assistance.
It's about time I started my Halloween crafting for the boys' costumes. Nothing like down to the wire (at least for me).
Luckily, I have two really great assistants to make sure our [secret] projects get done.
This was a big weekend. Not only did we have yesterday's birthday celebration, but we got home to prepare for houseguests. Karen, Chris, and James arrived after nap and we did some serious socializing. The little ones played together like champs and the adults stayed up way too late laughing and chatting.
We woke up bright and early (thanks, kiddos) to eat a yummy breakfast (thanks, Chris!) and went for a walk on this beautiful fall day. We watched the kids frolic on the rocks while we sipped coffee. It was glorious.
Then, we said our goodbyes and some of us took super long naps. To wrap up the weekend of socializing, Brian, Tera and the girls came over to hang out and enjoy a delicious carry out dinner. Mmmm, nothing like fried + unhealthy barfood to round out a perfectly indulgent weekend. We'll all sleep well tonight.
Happy birthday, Isabelle! We love you.
You know who loves books more than my boys? Chris's mom. So imagine everyone's excitement when she was visiting when Chase brought home his very first book order form. That's called good timing. To say the boys were slightly excited doesn't come close to covering it. When the books finally arrived this week, there were too many for their little arms to carry.
And the books couldn't have arrived at a better time. With everyone feeling a bit under the weather we needed a distraction. The books have been enjoyed...repeatedly.
Thanks again, Grandma Bibi!
Want a peek inside the room Chase spends three point five hours in four days a week? Here you go!Â
Cute, right? He continues to love school...everything about it. It makes us all very happy.
The library is hosting an adorable election for the kids to participate in. They get to vote on real ballots in a real voting booth for their favorite Pete the Cat book. We love Pete the Cat! It's perfect. Â
For the record, the vote from our house was unanimous for the Pete the Cat and his Magic Blue Sunglasses book. When I am notified of the results, I'll let you know.
It might have been 75+ degrees today but the big news at our house is that our new gas fireplace was installed. I'm not sure "excited" sufficiently describes Chris's state as he counted down to today. Â
Can you believe we didn't have a gas fireplace in any of the five places we've lived in the last ten years? Now hopefully this little guy can bring us a *bit* of joy during the worst of the winter months.
This is the look of Monday nights now that school has started. Two of our nieces hang out with us post-dinner until their sister gets done with dance. I have to admit, it's one of my favorite things for two reasons:
1. These girls are the best. They're sweet and patient with the boys (who are sometimes neither of those things) and a total joy to be around.
2. I learn so much! They often have homework to do and it's so interesting + informative to learn all about the subject matter for sixth and eighth graders. Not to mention I've learned a lot about internet cat videos, but that's probably expected.
Woohoo! I've finally found a reason to look forward to Mondays.
What do you do when the little one ends up with a fever and you can't make it to the train show you promised? Make your own train show, of course! I'm not sure how long this set up will last but it's impressive nonetheless.
There's even talk of busting out the electric Christmas train as a show piece to our exhibit. The excitement is palpable.
Chase's long time dream came true tonight. He got to ride in an outside car! Thanks, Aunt Pam for making it happen for him. He loved every second.
Look at me...getting out after dark! Oklahoma calls and I'm super excited. Curtain's about to go up, but it's safe to say expectations will be met. Thanks, Mom and Aunt Pam for making it happen!
This. This is why we moved back.
I'm not trying to give away any Halloween costume spoilers but this was too cute not to share. Chase is really excited about it.
Another gorgeous day here in WI so our weekly jaunt to the library + story time was trumped by a desire to take advantage of the sunshine. Instead we headed off to Ferguson's Orchard for another visit and a trip through the corn maze. Unfortunately, the spooky barn was closed and there are no hayrides during the week (we missed it during our last visit, too!), so we'll be back at least one more time before the end of the season.
The biggest bummer? No apple picking. Boo! We were able to wonder through the Cortland trees in hopes of finding one that we could each snack on (we did), but that's about it. Stupid early frost (or was it a late frost?!?) taking away all our apples. Not cool.
small city | BIG DAYS
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