It's FALL!!

It has turned SO cold here!  This afternoon Brock had a soccer game and it was 45 degrees during the game!  Ava and I were FREEZING!  Luckily I had some jackets and blankets in my trunk because we were SO cold during the game. When we got home I made us a big dinner because we were all so hungry and tired. I made baked ham, mashed potatos, corn, and mac and cheese (lots of comfort food-ha!)

After dinner I got some of our hats and gloves out of storage.  I can't believe I am already getting that stuff out again, I feel like I just put it away.  I also got our doggie coats for Daisy, Cotton and Ellie.  Here is a picture of Daisy in her coat from last year.  They all love going on walks in our neighborhood but it is SO cold in the fall and winter that they have to wear coats when we go.  I LOVE this picture of Daisy

Tonight after Brock and Ava did their homework Ava and I made Apple Crisp.  She loves cutting up the apples.  We love making (and eating!) this in the fall.

Here is my Apple Crisp recipe, it is SO easy to make and it's really good!

4 cups cored and sliced apples (about 6 medium)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup quick oats
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
6 tbl. butter

Place apples in a pie plate. Blend remaining ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until apples are browned and tender.

Now I am catching up on the shows that I missed last night, Biggest Loser and The Good Wife (love both of these!) and  I am looking for North Face fleeces online, I want to order one before it gets too cold here!

Happy Wednesday!!

garage sale finds!

Saturday morning Ava and I went to a few yard sales around town.   I got some pretty good things that I am excited about, my absolute favorite thing I got this weekend was this milk glass dish.  The lady that I bought it from was so sweet!  She said that she had it in her home for many, many years.  I am not sure what I want to do with it yet so right now I put a candle in it.

 

From the same sweet lady I bought this milk glass lamp for $1!  I LOVE it!!  We are going to put this in Ava's room, I think it will look so sweet in there!

I also got this white vase which I really like too, I think I will put some fall flowers in it. 

I also got this dish, I love the color and the size of it.  I put it on top of our fridge to hold our hot chocolate.

After the yard sales we went to Brock's little league game, I started feeling sick and left the game early.  I ended up being sick the rest of Saturday, all day Sunday and yesterday!  I had a bad cold and felt really awful.  I just laid on the couch and rested.  I did get caught up on all my DVR'd shows including Mad Men.  I have been wanting to watch that show and it was really good!   

Mother of the year

Just in case you thought you might win this award this year, you need to wait until next year, I'm the big winner this year-ha ha! 

Let's start with yesterday.  I left work early to get my haircut which I LOVE!  My hair stylist finally cut my hair exactly how I wanted it.    Anyway, I could have picked Ava up right after school but she wanted to go to the after school program because they were doing t-shirt tye dyeing.  I told her I would pick her up at 4:45 so she could be on time for her jazz dance class which starts at 5. 

So I go home take a shower and wash my hair. Since I got a new style I was playing around with it trying to get it to look right.  Why does it NEVER as good as it looks in the salon??    The next thing I know it's almost 5pm!  I yell and Brock and his friend Brandon to get in the car because we have to get Ava from school and get her to dance.  I get in the car and don't look to see if Brock has his door shut in the back seat.  He doesn't and his car door slammed into the center pole in our garage!  I am SO glad he wasn't hurt but  my back passenger door won't shut all the way now!  So I used Graig's truck to pick up Ava and she was 15 minutes late for her dance class.

While I was fixing my hair Graig came home from work EARLY, he never, ever comes home from work early.  He looked awful and had a temp.  He fell asleep on the couch and slept the whole night!!  We were suppose to go out to dinner with our friends and then go to the high school football game.  Since Graig was sick,  Brock, Ava, and I went we had a good time but we missed Graig :(  Brock kept telling people at the football game that his Dad had the swine flu, I had to tell him to STOP saying that because it wasn't true and  no one would want to sit around us or talk to us at the game!

This morning I went to a few yard sales and I got some cute things that I will show on my blog later!  I took Ava to cheerleading class and ballet and a playdate with her friend Jake.  Ava and Jake have been friends since they were born,  they were in daycare and pre-school together.  I work with Jake's mom and they were born 3 weeks apart.  They go to different elementary schools so they don't see each other that often.  Ava was so excited to get to spend some time with Jake this afternoon, until she got home.  She looked at a birthday invitiation that she got from her friend Mary.  I thought all along the party was tomorrow afternoon but was THIS afternoon, Ava missed the party!  She was so upset, she started crying and crying.  She REALLY wanted to be at Mary's party.  I called Mary's mom and aplogized and we plan to get the girls together to next week. 

Brock had a double header this afternoon in baseball, during the first game I started getting so sick.  I knew that I had to get home fast so I left before his second game started.  I took a long nap this afternoon and got caught up on my DVR'd shows.  I still feel awful and I think I will stay home all day tomorrow to try to get better. 

Brock and Ava start Sunday school tomorrow and thankfully my friend Chris has volunteered to take Ava to Sunday school so Graig and I can rest up and get better!

I hope everyone is having a better weekend we are having!

Sick Day and Open House

Today Brock woke up and he was sick with a sinus infection.  He gets them about two or three times a year.   Poor thing after we got home from the doctor's office he went up to his room and slept ALL day!  He didn't wake up until after 6pm. 

Tonight I went to Brock's school's open house.   I got to walk through his day, I went to all of his classes and met all of his teachers.  I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect and I even got lost once but it was nice meeting all of his teachers.  They all seem really organized and dedicated. I think he is going to have a good year.   Brock needs to stay on top of all of his work and assignments.  Graig and I are working with him a little bit each night.  

While I was home today I put out this halloween bowl that I got this past weekend.  I got candy that I don't like so I won't be tempted to eat it!  I think it's really cute, I love the polka dots.     

Sunday, Sunday

Today, Brock, Ava, Grandma Jan and I went to the Fly Creek Cider Mill for a day of fall fun!  It was really HOT and it seemed like EVERYONE in our area thought the Cider Mill would be a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon so it was really crowded!  I am so glad we went I love going there at least once during the fall. 

Ava loves getting her picture taken in these cutout things no matter where we go.  Can you tell from the picture that she's hot and tired?

This weekend they were having their annual apple festival so they had all of these carnival games that Ava loved playing. 

Look at Brock in the background, doesn't he look THRILLED to be watching his sister playing the games?  Ha Ha!

We ate lunch there and Brock and Ava got these hats in their kids meals. 

Ava and Grandma Jan at lunch. 

Do you like the new background?  I was getting tired of my old one so I thought I would try something new.  We have a busy week this week!  At work I am coordinating our national hazing prevention week, and we have Open House at Brock's school.  Graig gets home on Tuesday (thank goodness!) and on Friday I am getting my hair cut and we are going to the high school football game. It should be a fun week!

Friday, Friday!!

Our family is finally getting back into the swing of having Brock and Ava back in school.  I feel much better and more organized than I did last week at this time.  Which is good because Graig started travel for his job yesterday.  He works for our College admissions office and mid September-the end of October he travels a lot.  He goes for a few days, then comes home for a few days and then he is gone again. 

 Yesterday at work we had a little birthday party for 2 of my interns.  They had birthdays recently and we had to celebrate!!  I am SO lucky this semester to have WONDERFUL interns, they work SO hard! I am so glad we were able to celebrate a little yesterday!  And YES their office is ALWAYS that messy-ha ha! 

Today is Brock's first middle school soccer game!!  He is going to play goalie.  We molded his mouthpiece last night-yuck!  I wish Graig was home to do that.  His uniform is so cute!  He wouldn't let me take a picture of him in it this morning before he left for school.  So here is a picture of him playing basketball last winter.  I looked through all my pictures and I don't have any recent ones of him playing soccer.  I really need to take some pictures of him this season :)

Ava's cheerleading class starts tomorrow at the YMCA!  She LOVES doing cheerleading especially the stunts!  Her class starts at 9am so we will have to be up early.  Here is a picture of her from a cheer clinic she went to in the spring. 

I have still been decorating our house a little bit for the fall.  I love this candle holder with the candy corn.  We CANNOT have candy corn in our house because I LOVE it and could eat the whole bag!

I have been very busy the last few weeks working on a blog for our town.  We give awards for various properties, landcaping, businesseses, etc.  They are called Property of Merit awards.  I am on the nominating committee and I volunteered to put the pictures on-line.  We have never put the pictures online before but I think it will make it so much easier for people who want see all the properties before they fill out the ballot that is in the newspaper. 

Here is a link if you want to see all the properties

http://www.fofpropertiesofmerit.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend!!

DIY Day!

I am joining Kimba's DIY Day party!! I cannot wait to go through all of the DIY projects tonight when I get home from work!! It is so fun to see what other people do, I get SO many ideas from going through all the projects. 



I got this cabinet for $30 and it has been sitting in our garage forever! I finally painted it last weekend. I used Caromal Coulors after Kimba about it a few weeks ago. It was SO easy to use, I have used this paint on so many projects around our house. To make it more distressed I let Brock use the hammer and bang on the top and scratch it up a little bit, he is not usually a fan of my craft projects but he LOVED banging the hammer and scratching the top of this cabinet!  I love the character that he added :)

I still need to get new knobs for it and I LOVE the way it turned out, it was a fun project to work on and I painted so many other things with this same paint.  I will show those projects in the upcoming weeks.

I just want to give a shout out to one of my best friends from high school, Janna!!  We found each other on facebook and she just started her own blog, she loves to decorate and turn trash into treasure!  I wish we lived closer to each other we would have SO MUCH fun doing crafts and decorating together :)

Weekend update!!

Yesterday was SUCH a busy day that I didn't have time to post about our weekend. Brock and Ava are still getting into their school routines so this weekend we didn't do much of anything except hangout and sleep.
Saturday morning Ava and I went to our city's rummage sale. It was fun and I got a few cute things including this old scale. It was only $5! I think it looks really cute with my plant on top.  (oops I am not sure why it's upside down but you get the idea, I really like it :)

On Saturday, Brock started his Fall Ball baseball season.  He has double headers every Saturday afternoon for the next 6 weeks.  He LOVES playing and Graig's his coach so Ava and I will be at every one of his games.  I took this picture of Brock tonight after his double practice.  Tuesday's and Thursday's after school Brock has soccer practice and baseball practice.  He is so tired and hungry when he gets home!  I love this picture of Brock with Cotton, doesn't Brock look THRILLED?  Ha Ha!

 

  We are still busy, busy, busy this week getting Brock and Ava used to their school schedule and after school activities.  Happy Tuesday!!

Fall Decorating!

This week it has been a little cooler and I have been slowly putting out my fall decorations. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year to decorate and I always get a couple of new things each year.

I love this sign I got it from Etsy last fall.



I LOVE these fall flowers, I usually don't like fake flowers but I think these look really pretty in our dining room. I made this arrangement myself last year.



I just painted this shelf using the Distressed for Success kit from Caromal Colours. I LOVE it! I have painted so many things with this paint. It's so easy to use and you really can't mess it up. Kimba from a Soft Place to Land made a video to show how you use the kit. It's so easy! I am going to order some more because I used all my green kit. I painted a lot of things using this kit that I will be showing in the upcoming weeks: a cabinet, a blanket chest, an old wooden crate, and our coffee table in our living room.



I got this little glass jar at a garage sale. I think it's so sweet.




These are my glass jars from Ballard Designs. I just got them this summer and I really like changing them out for the seasons.



I got this centerpiece last fall at a craft store near where I live, I love it because I can use it until Thanksgiving.



I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday!! I am ready for the weekend. Brock and Ava are exhausted from being back and school and starting their new school year routines. I think we are all ready for a quiet weekend at home!

First Day of School!

Today was Brock and Ava's first day of school!! We got up extra early to make sure that everyone got to school on time. Graig and Brock left our house a little after 7because Brock is in middle school now and he starts school at 7:25!

They DID NOT want their picture taken this morning, it was SOOO early Ava was still in her robe-ha ha! I really wanted to get a picture of both of them on their first day, it's not the best picture but at least the two of them are together.




Brock all ready for school! Today after school I didn't see Brock until a little after 7 because he had soccer practice and then Graig took him straight to baseball practice. When he got home he was TIRED and HUNGRY!



Ava started 2nd grade today and she had a good day too! She has the same teacher as she did last year since her elementary school loops. She was so excited to see her teacher, Mrs. Andrew this morning! I pretty much just dropped her off in her classroom and left her right away because she was busy catching up with her friends and putting her supplies away. Ava LOVES clothes and she picked out her first day outfit weeks in advanceI love this outfit we got it at Crazy8.


They were both so tired tonight, they went straight to bed.

Curl Cutie

This afternoon we went to Grandma Jan's for a barbeque to celebrate her birthday. We all had a good time eating and laughing and having a good time. Tonight when we got home Ava wanted me to curl her hair with rollers. Poor thing she has stick straight hair and it doesn't curl very easily.

I got her some sponge rollers a while ago and she loves when I put them in her hair. She got her hair chopped off last weekend and it looks SO cute!! It's in a short bob. She looks adorable. I love when she has her hair short. Since her hair is short it didn't take too long to put all of her hair up in the sponge rollers. Never mind her hot mess of a bed in these pictures, that's on our list of things to do tomorrow. Her room looks like a tornado went through it-toys and clothes EVERYWHERE!! Anyway, I will let you know how her hair turned out!





Have a great labor day!! We don't have any plans just working around the house and getting the kids ready for their first day of school on Tuesday!

Friday Fun!!

Thank Goodness it's Bid Day!! I have my life back! I have been working about 12 hours a day since school started a week and a half ago and today those long days are finally OVER!! I am so happy! Don't get me wrong I love when the students come back and I LOVE recruitment week but it's a TON of planning, events, paperwork and meetings...and it's FINALLY over! Here are a couple of pictures from the Bid Day ceremony today.






To celebrate the end of recruitment I bought myself a new fall Vera Bradley from our campus bookstore. I couldn't decide what pattern to get so I got the Hobo pattern which has all 3! I love it, I think it will be the perfect fall bag.



Today is my mother in law Janice's birthday! She is SUCH a great grandma, mom to Graig and his brothers and mother-in-law to me. I am so lucky that she lives near us. Brock and Ava are so close to her and they LOVE going to her house for visits. I dropped them off at her house today they are going to spend the night. Sunday we are going to go to her house to celebrate her birthday!

Janice with Ava on Mother's Day



Today Boomama is hosting a dip-tacular! I don't have any really outstanding dip recipes to contribute, but I am going to love going through all of these yummy recipes. I LOVE dips!

Tonight Graig and I got pizza and just hung around the house and relaxed. Tomorrow While Brock and Ava are at Grandma Jan's we are going to work around the house and get things organized because school starts for them on Tuesday.

Have a good weekend!!

This and That

Brock started soccer practice yesterday. It was his first ever practice as a Middle Schooler!! He is going to play on the 7th grade boys team this year. He says that soccer is his 4th favorite sport behind baseball, basketball and golf-ha ha! He has played with all of the other boys on his team and Graig thinks he will play goalie which is his favorite position, so I think he will have a great year! I love this picture of Brock's first soccer team (who is in the front on the far right)



Ava is spending a couple of days with Grandpa Larry. They always have so much fun together she helps him in his garden and he lets her drive his golf cart. She is coming home tonight and I'm sure she'll tell us ALL about their adventures!!

I bought a few fall flowers yesterday to spruce up our yard for fall. Some of my summer flowers have died and some are looking pretty rough so I bought some Zinnias (LOVE these flowers). I tried to grow some of my own this year but they didn't have too many blooms, I think I will just buy them in August from now on when they are big and beautiful and have a TON of blooms on them!



Last night I started reading Admission which is a book about the Admissions process at an Ivy League school. You know how I never have time to pick out books in the library, this book was on the front display shelf of the library and it looked good! Graig is an Admissions Counselor so I think it will be interesting to see how the book explains the College Admissions process.



I am still really busy at work but we are trying to enjoy this last week of Brock and Ava's summer vacation. The weather has been PERFECT here so that helps a lot! Happy Wednesday!

Weekend update!!

We had a CRAZY busy week! I can't believe that I haven't posted in over a week, we have been SO busy! Work has been really busy because the college students came back last weekend and now I am in the middle of fraternity and sorority recruitment week, which is always SUPER busy. Friday is Bid Day so I feel like after that I will have my life back :)

Here's a little rundown of what we have been up to:
-Friday we had a family night we ate spaghetti and garlic bread and watched a movie. Not too exciting I know but it was fun to relax after a crazy week at work.

-Saturday we signed Ava up for dance classes. She is taking 5 classes this fall. She absolutely LOVES dance and 3 of her classes are with her favorite dance teacher Jill so she is so excited!! She is taking ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and lyrical.

-We went and got Brock's school supplies for 7th grade. There was a ton of stuff on his list and we were able to find everything at Office Max. He is all set for 7th grade!

-Saturday night Ava had two friends over and we made Magnolia cupcakes from the Magnolia bakery in NYC. They are DELICIOUS!! I highly recommend them, I halfed the recipe because they make so many.

CUPCAKES:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes*

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

-Sunday we went to church, Brock and Ava had friends over in the afternoon and I went to work because I had Sorority Tra.

This week is the LAST week of school vacation for Brock and Ava they start school next Tuesday!! We have a few little fun things planned for them this week before they start school next week.

Have a good week everyone