Early Morning Visit

Someone arrived late last night after the kids were asleep so they are catching up this morning. It should shock no one that he's taking her through last year's yearbook, page-by-page!  (Of course, she happens to appear on the Grandparents' Day layout since she was here for that. It's like there's someone in the family with a PTA yearbook connection or something!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Little Miss Swimmer

We got a hand-me-down swim cap from one of B's friends so I asked C if she wanted to try it for her swim lesson yesterday. She said yes so I put it on "dry" and she went off to the pool like this-- kinda like a neon green bald cap!  (She wanted her hair to stay out.)  :-)

She told me afterward that it was so.much.better! with the cap on!

Fabulous Friend Friday!

I just got the most delightful package in the mail from one of this blog's most loyal readers and thought I'd give her a shout-out!

For whatever reason--probably because I come from a family of nosy nellies librarians--I absolutely adore doing research on travel accommodations.  It's a very specific niche: I am not good at event planning or activity selection....but I can find a fun lodging location given some parameters!  I'm not exactly sure how it started, but YEARS ago, Karen I. asked if I had any suggestions for a road trip for her and Ian (aka my first boss ever), and that led to me figuring out that they should go to....where was it?  Greensboro, NC, I think!  Then they asked me recently to find them a hotel in a specific area of NYC and I guess were pleased enough with the selection to ask me to figure out where they could go on short-notice for an anniversary getaway earlier this month.

In classic Emily fashion, I didn't suggest a resort or a tourist destination.  I suggested...........Reading, PA.  HA HA HA HA HA.  It just makes me giggle.  But for a host of reasons, it made sense to suggest and I was tickled to be tagged in a FB post that first day with a video of them showing off the "modern loft" I found through Airbnb!

It turns out they even did some learning on their weekend away because I just got this treat shipped to me with a note including some facts about the history of pretzels in Reading!

Thanks so much for the snackie, Karen!  Totally unnecessary-- I love doing research for you!--but I'm glad I haven't bombed......yet.  ;-)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Nostalgia

After the kiddies got home yesterday afternoon, we left to go buy pumpkins at the church where they went to preschool. The church does a pumpkin sale fundraiser every year for its youth programs and I figured not having a preschooler anymore shouldn't keep us from supporting the mission!

B & C were soooo excited to run around the grassy area (complete with seasonal hay installation) where they spent many a past afternoon doing just that:

Then they ran over to the playground where, according to the B-man, they just were full of happy, nostalgic memories:

That's Weird

Since it is FINALLY cooling off around here, I'm working on unpacking all the long-sleeved, long-legged stuff I'd purchased ahead of time (on deep discount, natch) for the kiddies.

I had to laugh at this duo:

The REALLY bizarre thing is that the shirts are the same brand-- and both from the last year.  How in the world did such similar options get designed at the same time?  (Apparently I think Miss C has a love for pink hearts and glitter, though!)

Around the Store

Miss C and I killed time shopping last evening while Mr. B was at his theater class (practicing for his role as Papa Bear in Shrek-- ha!), and I couldn't help but document our adventure with a few snaps.

It's never a bad time to dance in front of mirrors:

I honestly stood and looked at this for way too long, wondering what in the world an "I O" plate was.  Were you supposed to put food in each circle?  Seriously. Thought. This.  (And then I realized it was sideways and actually is a Christmas greeting!)

I spend a lot of my paid work time doing copyedits and quality control and, yeah, it makes even perusing aisles an experience fraught with peril!

For Your Crowd-Feeding Needs!

I knew my post-game menu for the coaches this past Friday (a pretty big departure from my more common "something in the crockpot") was either going to be a huge success...or a total bust!  Since I already had some chicken and some ground beef in the freezer, I decided to pick up some Italian sausage and make it a meat-stravaganza!  This was no meat-mixing, however-- we had three different things going on:

It was a "Crescent Roll Ring" kind of night!  Clockwise from upper left in the above photo:  Buffalo Chicken, Cheeseburger, and Pizza!

A couple of the coaches weren't able to come over so the below photo represents the eating of only four (hungry) men...and the chef herself, who had to try!

Cheeseburger was the hands-down favorite-- maybe because of the oh-so-fancy egg wash?!  :-)

Oh, and in case you're wondering what that extra ring is-- I threw together an apple pie/cream cheese one for a bonus dessert, thanks to an extra tube of dough!

Friday Flashback

I dug through ye olde photo box this morning to find a photo from 2008 to post on FB in honor of this weekend's Baylor Homecoming. After all that, I decided I should check these electronic pages since surely I posted it here way back in the day.

Indeed!  From a blog post on July 18, 2001...and I had to smile when I saw the photo posted underneath the one in question:

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Everybody Needs Some Screen Time

Just a pair of cute little witches connecting with technology!

Seasonal Milestone

First hot cocoa of the year!

(Requisite mustache included.  But not marshmallows because apparently the mother was not quite prepared...!)

Here Goes Nothing!

Lessons begins today. Over/under on how long someone stays a trumpet player?

I understand his daddy attempted the trombone when he was a kid.  This guy's mom stuck with clarinet (and its larger relative, the bass clarinet) from 4th grade all the way through HS.  We shall see!  :-)

BOOM..and BUST

A friend alerted me to a news story awhile back about an upcoming Oreo experience...and I found evidence this weekend of it finally happening:

Unfortunately, neither kid LIKES the "Mystery" flavor.  We have some votes over here about what it might taste like--I'm sure the answer is on the internet but we haven't looked for it yet--but I'm wondering: have any of you tried them?!

Friday Flashback

The lovely people (robots?) at FB just showed me this "memory" from 7 years ago.  Figured it was a fitting flashback since we just saw the (less) young sir pictured in these pages yesterday!

Note that I am something like 6 months preggers in that photo and probably still weighed less than I do now.  (Middle-age fluffiness for the win!!!)

But hey, at least we both still got MOVES!


HAPPY FRIDAY!

A Two-fer

Rocking his Corning tee (RIP local children's store, Imagine That!, where I bought it 😟) AND the newest Oreo flavor (thanks, Big D!):

Also, I am totally convinced the good Oreo people offered Pumpkin Spice last year, too, but I just looked back at October 2016 on the blog and saw no photographic evidence.  Begs the question: if I didn't capture it in these electronic pages, DID IT ACTUALLY HAPPEN?! 

How Could We Not Get These?

We had a few minutes over the weekend to do a little mother-daughter shoe shopping.  While we didn't find anything that we actually needed, someone sure found a fun pair on the clearance rack-- with an awesome style name, no less!

Since they weren't quite her size, we left them on the shelf for another cool cat to buy!  (And wear...where?  I can't figure out where those would make sense, although the fluff is super fun!)

PS:  I just now noticed the price.  That *might* have kept us from buying them, too!  ;-)

"This will take awhile."

Man, my computer isn't kidding when it says that. It's been doing updates for more than an hour. I keep thinking I'll walk in the room and it'll be done, but nope. Still going!

I have to head out to a thing so no more waiting for me. I wish you all a Terrific Tuesday!  We're looking at another hot and humid day-- aaaahhhhhh!  So ridiculous!

Our "Fall" Weekend With Big D

Woooo-weeee it was hot this weekend!  Big D came to town, however, so we pretended it is really October like the calendar said!

The kids had an early release on Friday so we drove on up to the football game location (the most rural of all schools in the district) in the mid-afternoon to pick apples at a local farm:

Pulling the first one (an "Aztec Fuji") off the tree:

Climbing a ladder to grab another variety:

SOMEONE didn't understand the task at hand (er, head)!

Hard to tell, but this is what approximately 20 lbs of freshly picked apples looks like:

After sweltering in the heat, we went to the local restaurant for dinner and then headed to the game...but not before visiting the town's library branch so the B-man could be properly entertained during the athletic contest!  :-)

We left at halftime.  That should pretty much tell you all that you need to know about the 2017 football season....

Best Companion?

You might think it's the book for this lover-of-reading...

....but it's actually his beloved "squishy grapes."  Anybody recognize them from the decor of a particular retail establishment?  Years ago as a little guy, he became infatuated with squeezing the squishy grapes at Hobby Lobby.  Imagine my delight when I found some on deep clearance recently!  I hid them under his pillow and he was tickled to find his very own squishy grapes so he can squeeze (while reading, or whatever) to his heart's content!  :-)

It's the little things, right?   HAPPY FRIDAY!

Throwback Thursday

Just a FEW short years ago...

Wordless Wednesday

A Little Fall Foliage

(I always prefer to pronounce that word as "foil-age"--it's far more fun!  Kinda like pronouncing the "h" in "herb"! :-)

Anyway-- we're headed back up into the 80s this week (UGH) but at least it looks a bit more like fall around here now:

(even if the lighting at 8am is not ideal!)

 How does this guy, currently sitting on the hutch, not just make you happy?!  Look at those jangly legs!

And the pumpkin, hand-blown by artisans in Corning, gets the place of honor on the hall table!  (Its proximity to the BG's "catch-all basket" should not be taken as a slight!  Ha!)

Theater Under the Stars (and Water)

Even though our temps were quite brisk this weekend (hoooooray!  although they're warming back up during this week...booooo!), the kiddies enjoyed a fun Saturday evening with an aquatic seat for a cinematic presentation:

Gotta love heated pools (and friends with heated pools who invite us over). You can see Miss C doing some laps while the bigger kids watch from the hot tub-- she's always working to improve something!