Fall Favorites

Just picked up this tea at Whole Foods and it is a must for the Fall. As the days get colder this is a great afternoon pleaser.

Just saw this book at Anthropolgie and fell in love with the photographs and recipes. I think that I will have to refrain from this purchase as I just have too many cookbooks. But it is so tempting......

Soccer, Soccer and more Soccer

Our weekends have been very busy with soccer. Emma is on a club team and Henry is still on our town's team. It is always so much fun to watch the play the game- each with their own style.

Blah Day...

I have had a miserable day. It started when I got up and still continues on at 5:30. I decided to look through pictures from the summer to try and lift my spirits. No such luck. Hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Good old fashioned Manners.....

Henry went to a manners class this past Sunday with his Cub Scout den. It was such a cute class to watch as a parent - especially for boys. They were taught how to set the table, correct table manners, when to write a thank you note (always), how to answer the phone politely and how to just be polite in your everyday activities. The boys all sat there for an hour and a half listening intently. It was DARLING!

Kids need to have good manners and it is great to have them reinforced by a teacher!

Setting the table.

Learning how to shake someone's hand correctly and how to introduce people.

Cap gun.....

Henry is so excited to have a cap gun. He has wanted one since playing with his cousin's this summer. Henry put some of his birthday money towards the purchase and when this item came in the mail on Friday you would have thought that he won the lottery. He played with it all weekend and even slept with it under his pillow. He also loves the smell the gun gives off after he fires the cap. You will find his nose right next to the gun and soaking in the smell.....too funny.

Quote of the week

"It's like older and younger...I'm young and you're old."

Emma Edwards

Back to School Night....

John and I had two nights out this week for Emma and Henry's "back to school" night. Every year I surprise the kids with little bags of treats in their desks with a note of encouragement to kick off the new school year. They look forward to it as much as I do!

This year, I was trying to be organized and place these two bags within a reusable grocery bag in the back of my car so that I wouldn't forget them at home. While Henry and I were waiting for Emma to complete her soccer practice he went in the way back of the car. The next thing that I heard were tears and he was telling me that he had hurt his back but I couldn't figure out how he had hurt himself. He continued to cry all the way home and while were were leaving for the event...

When we came home from Emma's event we put the kids to bed. A few minutes later Henry came out crying so I took him back to his bed and he was telling me he felt like he had done something wrong and he didn't know how to fix it. This went on for about a 1/2 hour and he couldn't figure out what he had done. I asked if he had gotten into trouble at school, had he hurt someone's feeling, etc... I finally settled him down and went back into my room and he came back in within 5 minutes. During that 5 minutes a lightbulb had gone off in my head...he had see the surprise!!! I asked him if he had seen the treat and he started to cry.....he told me that he had but he hadn't read the card. He was so sad that he had ruined his own surprise. I reassured him that I would get him something else and that everything would be just fine. Once again he was at peace!!!

My mother started this tradition with my sister and I. I am thrilled to be carrying it on with my own kids!

A morning snuggle..

Henry woke up about 20 minutes early this morning and told me that he had a bad dream. He asked if I could sleep with him until he needed to get up. I crawled into bed right next to him to share the warm spot. (It was quite cold here last night so it was a joy to be under the down the comforter.) As I laid in bed with him he snuggled up so close wrapping both his little arms around my arm...he couldn't have been any closer. I could smell his clean jammies, his hair and his breath. All of these smells coming together brought me such happiness. I am sure the time will come in the not so distant future that he will no longer ask me to snuggle in bed with him so for now I cherish these precious moments (morning breath and all).

P.S. I love the picture above. We were up in Maine at a beautiful botanical garden and this was the reading barn. The barn was filled with the most amazing childrens book collection. One of my many happy memories from this fantastic summer.

A tale of two mice....

Henry has been obsessed with the Geronimo Stilton series all summer long. He plows through the books every night. He loves the adventures that little Geronimo takes him at the end of his day. I can usually hear him giggling in his room at all the funny things this crazy mouse does.

What a great set of books for kids!

This brings us to the tale of our second mouse.......

This is not Geronimo Stilton but it might has well been to Henry. He was so sad that we had killed this "helpless" mouse. He told me that this mouse probably had his own adventures like Geronimo and that he was no longer able to have them. He also hated the way the trap had flipped him over... His final question was "do you think that he enjoyed the peanut butter?" All I could think to say was "yes, I am sure that he did." (just before the trap sprang and killed him)

Little House on the Prairie

Emma has finally begun reading this series after being on her bookshelf for over 2 years. She received these books as a gift from her cousins. She is plowing through them. Of course it helps that she is having insomnia at this time so that opens up 2-3 hours of prime reading time during the early morning hours. She LOVES this series.

Emma and Henry also watch the all of the shows with Ma, Pa, Half-Pint, Mary, Carrie, Mr. and Mrs. Olsen and our favorite Nellie!!! This is such a wonderful series with so many simple messages. Michael Landon was a pure genius! I will never grow tired of watching Little House on the Prairie.

The amazing VITAMIX.....

I got this little baby for my birthday this past July. It is amazing. I love being able to make smoothies in less than a minute. Our favorite one to date is a creation that Henry came up with- bananas, strawberries, blueberries and yogurt. Emma and Henry actually had one for dessert last night before bed.

I am looking forward to making soups as the Fall weather begins to settle in (that is not the case today with our high temperatures reaching the mid 80's).

Saratoga......

This past weekend we made the trip to Saratoga, New York to see our families and to go to the races. We had a blast all being together and taking in all of the sights at the track. Here are some of the shots taken from the day.

Jurgen praying that his horse comes in as winner.

Even Hagan got in on the festivities - he making his picks!!! He also had his first dum dum!!

The horses were beautiful. We went down to see them walk by before every race. We thought that might bring us some luck- no such luck!

My big pick was "Don't Fooli Houli"...best return on the day.

Adam with the kids after his trying to collect his winnings on his ticket. The teller told him the ticket was not a winner.....somebody transposed something. Very disappointing but he still has a smile on his face.

the siblings

Riding the tractor over at YaYa and Hugo's house.