Thankful Version 2012

 

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  2 weeks of planning the perfect menu.  One week of grocery shopping and trying to find the right tablecloth.  2 days of pie baking.  1 day of cooking.  20 minutes of eating.  Somehow I think my equation is off. Just a little.  Oh, but it was worth it.  I admit that I am a little sad to see November slip by as quickly as it has.

 

The entire month of November has been full of moments to be thankful for.  We have spent very happy days raking piles of leaves just to jump in.  I can't imagine a better use for leaves.  We spent hours throwing Maddux's favorite Vanderbilt football back and forth across the front yard.  The daylight slipped away as we chased after Paizlee's wild throws.

I freshened up picture frames with fresh coats of paint and bought all new comforters for the beds. 

Since we are going to be spending more hours indoors over the next few months, I have been focusing on making things as cozy and welcoming as possible. 

 

I bought a twenty-five pound bag of flour and I am happily planning on how to use every cup.  The Christmas cookie list has been made and I am anxious to begin planning exactly what I am going to bake this year.  In the meantime, I made my favorite Caramel Apple Pie for Thanksgiving.  You should absolutely try it.  Just add a bit of cinnamon to your apples and your life will be complete.

 

As I type, the Christmas tree that we cut down this afternoon is happily twinkling in the living room.  We are moving ahead to Christmas and all the magic that December entails.  I hope that your November has brought you as much joy as ours has.  Now... get those cookie sheets ready.  I will be back with recipes!

October is almost OVER

I wait all year for October.  All year.  Truly.  I know, I know... that's slightly bizarre.  But good things always happen in October.  It's one of the things that I can count on.  Death, taxes and that amazing things happen in October.

This month has been full of happiness and pumpkin patches.  We have eaten pumpkin cupcakes at least three times. Plus, pumpkin cookies.  And maybe even some pumpkin fudge.  Yeah... I should have been running behind the hayride just to burn off all of these pumpkin related calories, but I don't think that's allowed. 

I have so many amazing recipes that I need to share.  Pinterest is a labyrinth of recipes and I have had more explode all over my oven that behave appropriately.  Therefore, I feel the need to share my successes.  I will start tomorrow with my Butterfinger Cookie Bake-off.  Two recipes.  One winner. 

I know.  You can barely stand the suspense, can you?

Try to contain yourself.  And go out and buy some Butterfinger candy bars.  You will thank me later.

A New-ish Chapter and Other General Vagueness

Are you ready?  I am going to pretend like I have been posting the whole time without a lapse. And then I am going to make a vague generality while attempting to sound very deep and genius-esque...

I am standing on the edge of a very big change and beginning to really like the way that it feels.

This kid, the daredevil in a blue dress, starts Kindergarten this year.  I won't lie, there will be sadness. Just as there was sadness when each of them left for school and when I ceased to be the one that held their wondering attention for hours upon hours.  After that first day, they came home bursting with stories of new friends and the unending knowledge of their teacher.  I was faced with, "Mom, you know how to spell my spelling words? Are you sure?  Maybe we should check with Mrs. Moore to make sure you are doing it right."

But with Paizlee, it feels different.  She is my last little monster at home.  She is my final attempt at instilling my children with all the goodness in the world before sending her out to get her feelings hurt or having her self-esteem tried upon a daily basis.  Oh, man. I am going to be one huge big ugly mess on the first day of school. In Paizlee's defense, she is braver than all of us put together and she will be more than fine, but I will still be a huge big ugly mess because that is my right as a mother.  That and calling dibs on getting to be first controller for Super Mario Brothers.

So, with all the spare time that I will have on my hands now that I won't have to follow Paizlee around with bubble wrap and bandages, I will get to reshape my days.  Oh, the soap operas and bon bons that will be in my future... oh, wait, that was last year.

I suppose while I am figuring out what next year will look like (especially since I just quit my soul sucking job, gasp!) I will hang out with the monsters.  I am good, no, great with that until I come up with my next genius-esque idea. 

Wonderful

Oh, monsters. Today you spilled like a gazillion cheerios across the kitchen floor and then proceeded to stomp on them because they made a cool noise when smashed to dust. You insisted on listening to Selena Gomez on repeat in the car until even I was singing "Love You Like a Love Song" and the lady in front of me in line at Kroger looked at me weird. You hid the remote control before you left for school so that I wouldn't play Mario Kart and beat your high score. You whined, you smelled weird, you begged, pleaded and drove me bonkers. You ganged up on me in an unsuccessful attempt to eat all remaining Halloween candy for dinner.

And then you smiled sweetly. And I remembered just how wonderful you guys are.

We {Love} Breuklyn Day!

Oh, my sweet and serious child. I love how each child has a very distinct and unique personality. Breuklyn is the athletic child. She is independent, intuitive to the feelings of others and very much adores her spot as the oldest child.

Whether it is Breuklyn's birthday or any time that she gets to choose what is for dinner, we know exactly what she will pick. Chicken Paprikas with green beans. And an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins, of course. As soon as we sat down Breuklyn looks at us and says, "Alright. What do you love about me?"

Paizlee - "I love Breuklyn because she is my friend and my sister. She lets me play with her Barbies."

Maddux - "I love Breuklyn because she is always nice to me when she sees me at school."

Brad - "I love Breuklyn because she is so helpful. She is the first one at the door when I get home from work to give me a hug, too. I love that."

Me - "When Breuklyn and I were at the grocery store today, there was a picture of a man dressed in a tuxedo on the front of a Valentine's Day card. 'Why is that man wearing a torpedo?' she asked me. I was totally confused until she pointed out the card. Instead of getting mad or embarrassed because I was totally cracking up, she just laughed at herself and said, 'I love it when I can make myself laugh.' I love that about Breuklyn. She can always find the bright side. She always delights in the sunshine. There is a lot that I can learn from Breuklyn."

We have so thoroughly enjoyed our Love days. It was so nice to take a few minutes to really slow down and focus individually on the kids after the chaos of December and January. We had a huge Valentine's Day breakfast yesterday since Brad was home and then I just have to show you the chocolate covered peanut butter hearts that we made. Then we can move on to Easter. Right? I can plant some Easter grass and start planning Easter brunch... I am off to start some new lists!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We Absolutely Love Cupcakes

Um, duh. Was there ever any doubt?

Once again we made Valentine's Day Rainbow Cupcakes. I must say, I loved looking back at the pictures from two years ago. The kids have gotten so big! Paiz was rocking it out in her high chair. Holy.cow.I.am.old. Just sayin'.

I love using these baking cups when I make cupcakes. They are easier for the kids to fill because they stand alone on a cookie sheet without having to use a muffin tin. They are a little more forgiving to Paizlee swinging batter around. Just take a pair of scissors and make a tiny snip at the rim of the cup so that when it comes time to eat, all you have to do is gently tear away the baking cup.

I just love how pretty these cupcakes are. I made these at Halloween using green, orange and purple batter. I have a major weakness for pretty cupcakes. Oh, and reasons to use sprinkles. I will do pretty much anything that involves sprinkles.

Breuklyn is very serious about decorating cupcakes. This is obviously a very serious business. She is also the first one done. She knows what she wants, gets is accomplished and is then happily munching on cupcakes while Maddux is still fretting over the perfect application of frosting. I love that she always knows what she wants and very often has no problem accomplishing exactly that.

Notice that Maddux is wielding an off-set spatula. No spoon for him. He wants the real deal. He has carefully sampled the frosting and since it met his inspection he will now spend 15 minutes frosting a single cupcake. While Paizlee and Breuklyn hoarded their cupcakes, Maddux was the only one who shared his cupcakes with Brad. Poor Brad. No one wants to share with him. Just where is the cupcake love, people?

Now this kid, she is all about the sprinkles. I can't imagine where she gets it from. The pinker, the better. She carefully arranged her heart sprinkles so that they were sticking up out of the cupcake. She licked all of them to make sure they would stick. She also licked the cupcake to make sure the frosting would stick. She is nothing if not dedicated.

You know that you just need to make these cupcakes this weekend, right? You can hear the sprinkles calling your name, can't you? If not, it is because Paiz ate them all.

We will be up to our eyeballs this weekend in making Valentines, creating teacher's gifts and We Love Breuklyn Day adventures. I hope that your weekend is just as lovely.

Rebooting. Snow helps.

My heart thinks it is back in Michigan with all of the glorious snow that we are blanketed with. Today is our second snow day. I have to admit that I am kind of loving being in a small town where snow absolutely shuts this place down. Annnnd the phone just rang to inform me of no school tomorrow! I guess we are in for another day of snow and hot chocolate.

I bought these super cute chalkboard mugs as Christmas presents for the monsters. I also bought one for Bradley. I like to write fun little messages for him to find in the morning as he is getting ready for work. Today he was thrilled to find, "Tuesday = garbage day." I know he is dying to know where I have hidden the chalk.

Breuklyn and Maddux quickly launched into building a snowman. Where is Paizlee, you ask? She is drinking hot chocolate in the house. She is clearly far too delicate of a flower to deal with the cold. Snort. She just wanted to choose the first cookie out of the oven. Breuklyn wanted coal for the eyes of her snowman, but, sadly, I was fresh out. She had to use radishes instead. Maddux was thrilled. "You can give the snowman my helping of vegetables!" he shouted. Thank you for your selflessness, Maddux.

As the children are thawing out (and their clothing is thawing on my kitchen floor) I am busy planning a few (GASP!) layouts. I know, it is shocking. But my creativity is back and I have purchased enough buttons and paper to prove it. Oh and I also bought this, this and this so there really is no stopping me now! I know that Visa will be glad to know that I am back.

I hope that your January is going as beautifully as mine.

October Things I Love

October brings two whole weeks of Fall Break, which means lots and lots of excitement with the monkeys.
Plus a few real monkeys that we got to check out at the Nashville Zoo. (Did you like that little segway? Nice, right?) I am also pondering exactly why it is that I continue taking pictures of the animals at the zoo. Why? What exactly am I planning on doing with all of the pictures? I don't even like nature.

Now here is a pictures of something I do understand. Pure bliss. I have been to Starbucks three times this week. I actually got an email from Starbucks announcing that the Pumpkin Spice Lattes were back. I don't know if I should be excited about this or mortified that I needed a notification. Jury is still out.

Breuklyn got her ears pierced when Carolyn was here, approximately 6-ish weeks ago. Breuklyn has been spending a lot of time deciding just what earrings she will be trying out once she is allowed to remove the original ones. A girl who is obsessed with earrings is definitely a kindred spirit. Plus, I love that a promised trip to Claire's will result in a clean room and a neatly made bed.

We have been to two pumpkin patches and amassed a total of 12 pumpkins that are hanging out with the mums on the front porch. A trip to the pumpkin patch is absolutely one of my favorite things about October. Brad just wants to know what I am going to do with all of the pumpkins.

Maddux is obsessed with word searches lately. He will sneak into his room with his word search book and stay happily entertained for hours. It is glorious. Plus, it reminds me of Nan. She absolutely loved word searches. Whenever she would complete one, she would write a little note at the top of the page. She would include the date, what the weather was like that day and a little note about her day. She might write, "65 degrees today, making vegetable soup for dinner." When I told Maddux this, he decided that he would include what he was wearing along with the date. "Tuesday. Batman pajamas." Nan would be proud.

October brings cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. I found a Madeleine Pan at a yard sale for 50 cents and just knew that my first attempt would be Martha Stewart's Orange-Cardamom Madeleines. They were absolutely perfect with a cup of tea.

October brings lots of fun to our house. I wanted to take a picture of Paizlee's turquoise leggings, but I got distracted by her (as she calls it) "ballet hair." We have been just loving the weather, the glorious 2 weeks free of commitments and the smell of cinnamon. Life is good at our house. How about yours?

Breaking The Silence...

I really wish that I could write something beautiful and meaningful about Nan. I wish that I could explain clearly how lost I feel without her.

But I can't.

It hurts. It hurts and I cry. And I don't cry in a delicate pretty kind of way. It's ugly.

Instead, I will tell you that Maddux survived his first 2 months of Kindergarten.

After a few weeks of him absolutely hating Kindergarten, he has adjusted happily. I am so very grateful that I no longer hear choruses of please don't make me go! as he would climb out of the car and then attach himself to my side view mirror in the drop-off line. Nothing says amazing parenting like rolling down the window and threatening one's child with impending doom if they don't let go of that mirror this very instant.

Second grade has brought new happiness to my sweet Breuklyn. She is making new friends and we are battling through her difficulties with reading. This year is going to be good for her.

I can also tell you that Paizlee started ballet last week. She has since spent the majority of her days spinning. And I mean that most literally. I have to say that a class full of 3-year-olds learning ballet is definitely enough cuteness to make me happy for the rest of the day.

We have lots of goals set for October. I am happy to report that many of them involve pumpkins and liberal amounts of cinnamon. I am hoping that my absolute favorite time of year will soothe my battered soul. I believe that it will.

A Day of Breuklyn

This girl makes me happy.

Sometimes when I look at her, I still see this little girl. How did we go from Dora bicycles to digital cameras so quickly?

When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she instantly responded, "A camera. A real camera. And a day with just mommy." Who could say no to that?

10AM: Eat pancakes the size of our heads. Did I mention that the pancakes were covered in blackberries. Swoon. Breuklyn said that she needed to text Aunt Murray. "Can I have a cell phone for my 8th birthday?" she wanted to know. Don't hold your breath, dear one.

11AM: Positively flouncing Maddux at checkers. Maddux, bless his 80-year-old man heart, is the most pathetic checker-loser on the face of the planet. Did you notice that he is not in this picture? Well, I did. That is because there are tears streaming down his face and he is chanting, "Do NOT jump my guy. Do NOT jump my guy" over and over and over and over. It wasn't pretty.

12:30PM: Painting pottery.

I love the polka dots that she she carefully added to the inside of her cup. I also love that the colors she chose to paint with exactly matched what she was wearing.

2:00PM: Chai. Strawberry Gelato. Skip-Bo. Could there be a better combination?

I would just like to point out that this face is genetic. There are collections of pictures that have me making this face. Classy. Indeed.

The local coffee shop was the perfect place to find a quiet table upstairs and play Skip-Bo. It was pouring rain outside and we were happy and content.

Breuklyn is not my chatty child. She takes her time when it comes to communication. She will wait days and days to tell me about something important that happened. Maddux can't wait 5 seconds to tell you what he is thinking about, but Breuklyn is not like that. Breuklyn will think a situation over and decide how she feels about it and then, when she is ready, she will talk. My biggest problem (biggest fear?) is that I am not always instantly available when she is ready to talk and the moment will pass. This was a day to hear her. Really listen to what she had to say. And I learned a lot.

3:15PM: Library.

We read chapters of The Boxcar Children while huddled in a quiet corner. She read one page and then I would read the next.

Just one day. 7 blissful hours. A day to reconnect.

Sometimes, it is hard to remember the days when it was just the two of us. Brad would work 12-14 hour days and Breuklyn and I would stay in our tiny apartment all day. This picture was taken just days before Maddux was born. 2 years old. She was our little family. And we, Brad and I, thought everything she said was hysterical and every thought she had was genius. She has always been insightful, sensitive to the feelings of others and funny. Oh so funny. And she has always been loved loved loved.

Thank you, Breuklyn. For being you. And being mine.

Happy

A blueberry muffin with a candle. A new purple shirt to wear to school. Special cupcakes brought to school by mom and dad. An impromptu dinner party with friends, complete with singing and ice cream sundaes. A grown-up digital camera to call your very own.

It was perfect. And so are you. Happy 7th Birthday, Breuklyn.

Proofreading is a Good Thing

I was sure that Breuklyn would want to go with store bought Valentines this year. We dutifully checked out the Hannah Montana, Disney Princess and Tinkerbell varieties. Breuklyn looked up at me with a look of deep concentration etched into her adorable almost 7-year-old face and said, "Mom, these just aren't as cool as the ones that we made last year." So, with a happy heart she proceeded to dig through all of the buttons, glitter, felt and paper that she could possibly desire to create her class Valentines.

While she rocked out to the Phineas and Ferb soundtrack and set about to her task of 18 Valentines, I sat across from her at the dining room table writing out yet another grocery list. She held up the above Valentine and said, "What do you think mom??? This is for my favorite friend, Alexis." Of course I smiled and told her that it was the best Valentine in the history of Valentine's Day. It was my duty. I asked her to open it so that I could read what she wrote. Inside, she had carefully written, "I lick you a lot."

Classic.

In other news, (which happens to be Maddux's favorite new phrase and we hear it 237 times a day) whomever cut Breuklyn's bangs needs to adjust her scissors or something. Because surely it couldn't have been, ahem, me that cut her bangs like that. Yeah. No way. Wow.