Oh Autumn

The first day of Fall is tomorrow.  Around these parts that really doesn't mean much.  It's still going to be over 100 degrees tomorrow, and we're still going to be wearing shorts.  The leaves won't change color, but that doesn't mean my front door and my house can't have fun changing color.  I put up our fall wreaths this afternoon.  I have two of them and I really wanted to try hanging both of them this year.  I got some good stuff (burlap ribbon stuff) at Hobby Lobby to attach them together with.  I think it turned out nice.  I'm going to pass on the garland I usually put around the door.  I'm trying to go with a more simple theme this year.  A little less glitter and stuff.  

Of course with pulling out the fall decor comes pulling out last year's Halloween costumes.  Grant ran around our house today wearing his monkey costume from last year.  Brett loved it!  And Grant loved it too.  I think his Super Why costume for this year might have some competition.  We'll see.  There's still a month to go.

Tomorrow is our annual First Day of Fall dinner.  I'm so excited!  It's like a holiday in our house....well, at least for me.  Because even though it won't feel like fall tomorrow, cooler temperatures are not that far away.  And that is something worth celebrating!

  

Happy Fall and have a great weekend!

New picture line up

Last year I put up this curtain wire from Ikea in Grant's room.  Then I had a bunch of pictures of him from throughout the past year printed and I glued them to paper and hung them up on the wire.

It was time for updated pictures.  So last night I glued the new pictures on the other side of the papers that I already had hanging and ta-da, it's done!  It was amazing to see how much he's grown in the last year.  Grant really loves to see these hanging in his room.  I'm sure they help him feel important.  And he is.  We sure love this boy!

Just because

Brett chomping on his corn on the cob

Spent some time organizing

Some of my kitchen cabinets have been needing a good clean out for a while.  This afternoon I spent a good hour cleaning and organizing them.  I even relined them with some sturdier shelf liner.

And my boys spent that time...

Well, now I know what I get to clean up next.
Brett and that tongue!  Whenever he's focused he has his tongue out!

Mr. Independent

This morning Grant put his cereal bowl in the dish washer all by himself.  This is the first time he's done anything like this.  I thought it was so cute.  I just love how he's really becoming more self sufficient lately.

"Mom, look at me sitting with the bears!"
(My mom made me that awesome bear on the left when I was a little girl.  My sisters and I all got one for Christmas.)

And this little guy just keeps on growing.  We'll be celebrating his 1st birthday in just a few weeks!

Happy Friday!  We are going to kick off the weekend with haircuts and dentist appointments!

Look what came in the mail : Pumpkin bread love

My camera came in the mail the other day!  Hip, hip, hooray!  It had been giving me an error and not letting me take pictures at random times, like right when I'd have a perfect shot of a cute baby face or the perfect light outside with Grant.  We sent it in and something was broken on it, so they fixed it.  And now it's back!

Now on to one of the best decisions I've made so far today.  This pumpkin bread is amazing!  I got the recipe from my friend Stephanie, over here.  It's her favorite, and now it's mine.  It was done cooking just after my visiting teachers came over.  So we enjoyed some together and we all agreed that it's amazing stuff, even though I cooked mine a little to long and the bottom stuck to the pan.  Ooops.  I guess I'll have to keep it all to myself.  :)  Try it, you won't be sorry.

Weekend recap : Plans for fall

Our weekend included:

Rain.

Friday night date iceskating.  It was nice to be somewhere cold!

Lunch & a little shopping with my BFF Shari.

Going to the driving range with some of Keith's family.  The weather was so pleasant!

Church.

Fun & yummy birthday dinner for my nephew Landon.

Brett's first official golf lesson.  You can just see the concentration!  :)

We love this time of year.  Some things we are looking forward to:

Getting my nice camera back that I sent in to get fixed.  I can't wait!

Plans have started & invitations have been sent for our annual First Day of Fall Dinner with my family.

Planting new flowers.

Brett's first birthday!

General Conference.

October break.

Schnepf Farms Pumpkin & Chili Party.  We go every year & we love it...especially the fresh kettle corn.

Family pictures.

Halloween.

But most of all we look forward to...

cooler weather and more time outside!

What does your fall have in store for you?

Our Super Why

Grant got to go to a super hero birthday party a couple weeks ago.  He was to come dressed as his favorite super hero.  So he chose to be Super Why.  I looked up the little character online and figured out a plan to make a super cute costume and keep it as simple as possible.  I went to Hobby Lobby and got the green shirt, some shiny blue fabric, yellow puff paint and the green foam glasses.  I was going to make a mask that tied on, but when I saw the foam glasses I knew I couldn't beat them.  Plus they wouldn't slide down his face like a mask might.  I didn't really measure much besides the cape.  I just went to town and got it done really fast, and I'm happy with the results.  And Grant loves it!  He was such a super cute Super Why!  He loves it so much that he wants to use it for Halloween too.  Great!

 My Super Why

The only thing that Grant has requested to add to the costume for Halloween is that little question mark wand thing.  I think I could make it with some red foam and a pen!

Labor Day

After spending over a week at home with sick kids, we HAD to get out of the house!  So we headed to the zoo this morning for a little while.  I tried to get Brett to wear his sunglasses.  He thought they were pretty fun and was hamming it up for us.  And then he tore them off and played with them.  He sure looked cute if I say so myself!  And can you believe how BIG he's getting?!  He'll be a year old next month!

You know you live in Arizona when you use blankets to keep COOL.  I love using these Aiden and Anais blankets when it's hot.  First I get it soaked in cold water and then I surround the stroller with it.  It creates a nice little swamp cooler for our stroller.  We soaked it again a couple times during our outing today.  I also brought a mini spray bottle full of water and we sprayed each other with it when we got to hot.

Brett is pretty much totally over being sick, and Grant is almost better.  He won't be going to school tomorrow though.  Hopefully a couple more days of laying low at home will get him back up and running like new again.

We sure are glad we got out to do something fun today.  We had a great time together. Then tonight we had my parents over for dinner and a grueling game of Scrabble.  It was a good day.