Happy Fall!

Because of my undying love for fall, I thought I would put together pictures of some of the fall-ish things at our home right now. I hope that fall is in full swing at your home too!

The beginnings of a fall decorated porch.

(plus a peek at something else I've not yet posted on)

Entry way warmed up

Lots of clearance candles from T.J. Max - so pretty all lit!

Yummy homemade treats

An Autumn scented Yankee candle is a must!

Some of the last tomatoes from the garden

(Aulora eats them whole like apples!)

Little jackets and sweaters are hanging on the hooks again.

Julia put her scarecrow from school into a garden pot.

These are my staple fall things I use every year and they make me happy.

My "welcome wreath" - isn't it pretty?

Cowboy Cookie Recipe - AKA Get Super Fat Cause You Can't Stop Eating Them Cookie Recipe

My MaMa gave me a recipe she clipped from the newspaper years ago and I made it for the first time yesterday. I had wanted to many times before, but I never had all the ingredients on had. I guess the stars were aligned yesterday though because everything was in my cabinet. (Except the pecans and I didn't want those anyway.)

So here is the cookie recipe that makes the best cookies I've ever eaten in my life!

Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 sticks butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened flake coconut
2 cups chopped pecans (8 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.

In 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed till smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars and continue beating to combine, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each.

Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans.

For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake 17 to 20 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Remove to rack to cool.

**I made smaller cookies than the recipe instructs and I also took them out of the oven sooner so they wouldn't be crunchy. I like chewy cookies! This recipe makes a LOT of cookies so make sure you have a plan to either share them with neighbors or go to the store for stretchy pants. Your choice. I'm not saying what my choice was but I bet you can guess!**

Greek Camp

There's a great school right around the corner from us that teaches in the classical style. It's a beautiful school with great, green lawns that's been around for many years. We would loved to have sent our kids there but it's 7th-12th grade only.

Over the summer they offer a day camp for 4th-6th graders. We jumped on that opportunity and enrolled John David. It was two weeks long and he loved it. It was all about ancient Greece and he learned so much. They had Olympic game reenactments, learned the Greek alphabet, and so much more. Next year is an Egyptian camp and I'm sure he'll be going again!

The Help

I've heard it's hard to find good help these days.

I don't agree at all. =)

I think I've posted it before, but here's a link to an article about children helping in the home. It's not just for parents of older kids either. Kids who are only 2 or 3 can help too!

Slowly Going Insane Part 2

All of the comments on here and facebook combined with the increasing burning and itchiness prompted me to go to a walk in clinic today. I went prepared to entertain the little ones for a few hours while we waited (which is normally the case with these clinics). We had books and toys and snacks and lots of hand sanitizer.

Lucky for us there was hardly a wait at all and I was told soon enough that the problem is a very infected bug bite. (Of course, the doctor had much fancier sounding names for it.) So now I have an antibiotic to take as well as a medication to help with the itching. It's basically a sedative used to relax a patient before a procedure. (I'm fairly certain I will hold onto a few of those little pills to relax me before my next Walmart trip.)

I'm told these kind of things can take a while to heal so it looks like I need to buy some band aids to cover up the ugliness. I'm wondering if they make Josh Groban band aids???

Slowly Going Insane

Over a week ago I noticed something above my eyebrow. John insisted it was a pimple. I argued it was a bug bite.

Days passed. It grew.

And it itched.

And throbbed.

It was obviously not a pimple. And maybe or maybe not a bug bite.

The red bump turned black and blue. I couldn't decide which was worse - going around with what looked like a horrific pimple or putting a Dora the Explorer band-aid on it. In the end I settled on a butterfly type bandage which then looked like I was married to a wife beater.

Over the last couple of days the itching and stinging and throbbing has spread back to my temple and straight back through my scalp. It hasn't visibly spread, but I can feel it.

I'm creeped out. But mostly, I'm going insane because of how it feels! John says I need to go have it checked out. I say I don't want to because I have no insurance. I'm pretty sure my tortured head will have the final say though.

Clone Trooper in Training

This is Joshua.

He is now 2 1/2.

And he's a clone trooper.

In training.

Occasionally his commanding officer checks in on him.

Legally Blind

Poor baby, she inherited my eye sight. Her teacher and I both noticed around the same time that Julia was having a hard time seeing. I scheduled an eye doctor appointment for both her and John David and within a week she had glasses. (John David had to get reading glasses but since he does all his school work in his room we rarely see them on him.)

I let her pick the frames she wanted because I wanted her to love them and wear them all the time. (I hated my glasses as a kid and didn't wear them nearly as much as I should have.) I really like some pink frames that were a bit more chunky and fashionable, but she decided on this pair. Her decision was probably much more practical anyway since these will match anything she wears. And doesn't she look so smart? And cute??? =)

Just for laughs, here's a picture of me when I was one year older than Julia is now. My mom insists these glasses were fashionable at the time. I'm not so sure....

First Day of School Pictures

First Day in 2006

John David Starts Kindergarten and Julia Stays Home

First Day of School 2007

John David Starts First Grade

First Day of School 2008

John David Starts Second Grade

First Day of School 2009

John David Starts Third Grade and Julia Starts Kindergarten

First Day of School 2010

John David Starts Fourth Grade and Julia Starts First Grade

(Can you see that John David is getting older and not appreciating this picture tradition so much? That and the fact that it was a rainy morning did not lend itself to any pretty pictures.)

The traditional after first day of school homemade cookies and milk. (To me, that is the ultimate June Cleaver/Martha Stewart thing to do and we do it every year!) (And I do not know why this text is a link to the picture.)

First Day of School 2010

Aulora Starts Preschool

(picture taken after school hence the messy hair!)

I really love the first day of school pictures. You would think that my love for them would cause me to take some nicer shots. Something about not being late that first day, I guess.

Here's to getting back to blogging again.....