Emily's world

Seriously why is it that the minute the leaves start changing colors the stores think they need to put out Christmas decorations? Luckily this year we were able to procure a Halloween costume for Em with 2 weeks left to spare before the event. Last year we had a very hard time finding one for her with that much time left. She's going to be a witch.....here she is trying on the costume:



Sharing a popsicle with Daniel who is having MAJOR teething pain.....



And finally entertaining Daddy and I with her song about Cinderella and the number 3:

Freezer/Pantry Challenge Take Two

Ok here we go again. Let's see how this week works out for my challenge since last week not only did we have Chinese one night we also had pizza.

Monday: Homemade Hamburger Helper
We had some leftover ground beef, shredded cheddar, elbow mac, and milk and voila Hamburger Helper at a fraction of the price. Plus it allowed both me and E to have lunch on Tuesday

Tuesday (aka Daddyless dinner night) Breakfast
I bought eggs on sale at A&P for a buy one get one free and we had a ton of pancake mix. So the kids had pancakes and syrup and Mommy had eggs and sausage (I don't like pancakes)

Wednesday: Pot Roast
We bought a HUGE pork loin at BJ's when it was on sale and have slowly been eating away at it.

Thursday: Baseball food night
Hot dogs and fries.

Friday: Chicken a la Grandma
Chicken thighs in olive oil and breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies

Saturday: Musgoes (leftover night)

Sunday: Chili
Chili is pretty much a given on Sundays once football starts. It's easy to make, both my kids eat it, and it makes enought for leftovers.

Let's see how this goes since I actually had a menu plan ahead of time.

Freezer/Pantry Challenge

As some may know my husband and I are planning to move at the end of November. To make life easier (and in all actuality cheaper) on us we are conducting a freezer/pantry challenge to reduce the amount of food we have in our freezer and pantry and to try not to go grocery shopping every week except for necessities (milk, bread, eggs).
To do this we need to make a menu plan and in complete honesty we're really, really bad at that. So far this week here is what we have had for dinner

Sunday: English Muffin Pizza
(I got the english muffins for $1.99 at Hannaford, the mozzarella for .99 at Hannaford and I had a can of crushed tomatoes left over from when stop and shop had them for .50)

Monday: Chicken a la Grandma, homemade stuffing, mixed veggies
(I got boneless, skinless chicken thighs for .19 a pound (!!), we had some white bread that my kids won't eat so we turned it into stuffing, and we had the frozen veggies from a s&s stop when they were .50 a bag)

Tuesday: Stuffed Peppers, garlic knots, alfredo noodles
(The hubs made dinner with ground beef we bought on sale a month ago, we bought a HUGE bag of rice at BJ's about 6 months ago and are still using it, the peppers he bought yesterday, I bought pizza dough on Sunday in the hopes of making homemade pizza but had a problem getting it to roll out so that's where the garlic knots came from, 1.99, and the alfredo noodles were a pasta roni package that I bought for .50)

Wednesday: This we will call my "Adrianne didn't have a menu plan" night. Chinese food. 'Nuff said. Except that I also got a replenishment on my tupperware. Oh and that I got enough food to have dinner for hubs, mini-me, me and enough for lunch for all three of us the next day. And well, breakfast for me. There were vegetables in it so I deemed it healthy.

Thursday: Musgoes (whatever is in the fridge "must go" or leftover night to a normal family) And now I realize that in order for this to work I really, really need to make a menu plan and not try to fly by the seat of my pants.

Conversations with a 3 year old

E: Mama, can we go to Heaven?

This was the question asked of me by my 3 year old on the way home from Sunday School today. It's her first time being in Sunday School and she LOVES every minute of it and apparently she's listening when they go to the chapel for song and story time. I pondered how to answer this for her as Heaven is somewhere that she should want to go, but is not somewhere that we can go right now. While I thought of how to answer her over our shared lunch of nuggets and fries she asked another question:

E: When can I meet God?

I tried to tell her that she sees God everyday. In the flowers by the side of the road, in the leaves that are now starting to change color, in the bright blue sky and the fluffy white clouds that are shaped by elephants. I tried to tell her where I see God; in her smile, in her brother's baby blue eyes, in watching them learn and grow every day. How do you give answers to a 3 year olds questions when you're not so sure you know the answer? How do you tell her that you don't know and she responds with "why?". How do you explain to a 3 year old who sees everything in matter-of-fact that you can't drive by Heaven just to see what's going on? Or that you can't schedule a meet and greet with God? I started to tell her that going to Heaven and meeting God are going to be direct reflections on how she lives her life. She sat and thought about this for a long time and then asked a question that I could answer:

E: When I go to Heaven will you be there?

Absolutely baby, absolutely.

AL CENTRAL CHAMPIONS!!!!

Most that know me, know that I am originally from Minnesota and a big fan of the Minnesota Twins. Especially when my dad used to take us to games in the Metrodome and watching my favorite player of all time #34 Kirby Puckett and being able to be in the state when they won the World Series in 1987 and 1991. Two years in a row now the Twins have come from behind to force a one game play off to enter the playoffs within the American League. Last year was a heartbreaker as the Twins lost to the Chicago White Sox 1-0. This year no one thought they would be able to catch the Detroit Tigers who had a 3 game lead heading into the last 4 games of the season. But with an amazing (17-4) record for the month of September my beloved Twins forced a playoff in the Metrodome. I must say that when Miguel Cabrera hit that hot 2 run shot off of Baker my heart sank a little but the way the Twins stuck with it and kept answering runs with runs of their own reminded me a little of how this game is supposed to be played. With a lot of heart. Both teams played with a tremendous amount of heart rallying from being down one run each and eventually forcing extra innings. In the end it was the Twins who came out on top 6-5 in the bottom of the 12th inning on a single by Alexi Casilla that scored Gomez from 2nd. I think that both teams played last night like the players of yester year and each would have deserved the win. Congratulations to the Minnesota Twins. Everyone else please pray for my hearing as my hubby is a NY Yankees fan (as is the rest of my in-laws) and it should be interesting in our household starting tonight.

My Everest

So the other day I got an email from active.com asking what my "Everest" was and it really got the wheels turning thinking about what I want to accomplish in my lifetime. I'm married to an amazing man (who can seriously drive me nuts but I know loves me for everything that I am and in spite of everything that I'm not), have two wonderful children (who I watch with amazement every day when they surprise me with how great they really are), and I'm really not looking to accomplish much more than raising my children to be the best they can be. So thinking with this in mind (and knowing that I want my kids to know that anything is possible) I've decided that I have two "Everests" 1) I want to run a 5K, followed by eventually running the NY marathon and 2) I want to complete a triathalon. Now for anyone who knows me I'm extremely stubborn and when doing something I usually do everything in my power to get it done and that I can be extremely lazy and working out is really not my cup of tea. But as I said before I want to show my kids that hard work and perseverance can overcome anything so here's to completing my Everest. What's your Everest?

Fall

I love fall. Just about everything about it, changing leaves, falling leaves, apple picking, the pumpkin patch, eating or drinking anything with the hint of pumpkin in it. Wearing sweaters and jeans and being comfy. Football Sundays and Mondays (and sometimes Thursdays and the occasional Saturday college game too which means then sometimes on Friday night as well), Sunday school is in full swing. But most of all I love it because it's a time when my kids are a little more likely to want to snuggle up to a warm body and because that means its time for fall pictures.

What a whirlwind

.....and I have loved every minute of it. Last weekend I took the kids to the Hyde Park Quadricentennial. This has importance in two ways for me especially first its a free thing to do with my kids, second it is believed that Henry Hudson anchored his ship in the Crum Elbow Creek in 1609. It was a nice day without it being too warm, fall was definetely in the air especially when the wind blew. It gave Emily a chance to go from table to table and come away with a souvenir from each. There was the paper rose she got to make (marking the rose gardens in FDR's lawn), the piece of wooden furniture stamped with Val-Kill (a la the furniture at Val-Kill Eleanor Roosevelt's estate), a wooden sailboat (to commemorate Hudson's Half Moon ship), and a dutch hat. It was a wonderful event and really got the kids and community involved.

Here are some of the pictures from the day: