Patterson's Fruit Farm

If you know me, you'll know that one my my favorite things about fall in GA was Fall Family Fun Days at The Rock Ranch. I've been lamenting the loss of the Rock Ranch and wondering what we would do instead, and we found our replacement:) It's not exactly the same--think less bouncy houses and more tree houses--but really fun none-the-less. Yesterday we went to Patterson's Fruit Farm in Chesterland for their Family Fun Fest. The weather was pretty chilly, but the kids had a fantastic time and we stayed for hours playing. I even got my annual "birthday apple fritter" so that was an added bonus (and it was so good!) (Chuck used to buy me apple fritters for my birthday every year in GA from a great bakery there in town, and I thought I wouldn't get one this year!). The apple cider was AMAZING and it was just an all around great, fun day:) We definitely want to go again before Halloween (can you believe it is almost October already!?!?)

Enjoy the pics:)

DIY Silhouette project

This is one of my favorite projects that I've done lately. Such an easy and cheap craft that turns out really cute and makes for great wall art:) I followed the instructions here and it was a cinch!

The photo doesn't do it justice, because it looks really small. But this is in an 8.5x11" frame, and the scrapbook paper I used is really beautiful on our taupe-colored walls. I hung it in our entry hallway and I just love how it turned out!

Total cost for the project was $4. The frame was $3 from Walmart and the scrapbook paper was 3/$1 at Michaels.

DIY Foam Bath Toys

I wish I could say that I came up with this awesome idea myself. It's one of those projects that as soon as you see it you slap your hand to your forehead and say, "DUH! Now why didn't I think of that?" So simple, easy and CHEAP, and oh so much fun:)

So this project came from Filth Wizardry and Cheerios Underfoot. My kids LOVE Yo Gabba Gabba, so when I saw how she did them, I simply had to copy it. Our Brobee was colored with green washable marker that came off in the tub (poor Brobee) but he still looks pretty cute;) Ava's favorite is the blue cat, Toodee.

Then Aiden asked for Mr. Strong, and I have a feeling that the entire afternoon is going to be devoted to making the Lil' Miss and Lil' Men collection. They are so cute, how could I resist? We got the craft foam from The Dollar Tree, so this entire project literally cost $1 (although I bought 4 packs of foam, so we can make MORE of course, lol).

PS--one of my favorite things to do when I am checking my blog is to hit the "Next Blog" button at the top of the screen. You just NEVER know what kind of blog you'll find. This is what I stumbled on last night and if only I knew how to sew, I'd be busting these out all over the place. It is soooo cute!

So you had a bad day...

I had a bad day yesterday. The morning started off ok, but by mid-afternoon it just seemed like I could do nothing right and both of my children were intent on letting me know it, repeatedly...loudly. By the time Chuck made it home, I was at that point that mothers shouldn't reach--the one where I wanted to march out of the same door he'd just swung open and announce something evil like, "I'm never coming back!"

I didn't, of course. But I did need to escape for a while.

So I laced up my running shoes and headed to the shore, where the lapping waters of the lake always seem to cleanse my soul and renew my spirit.

I was not disappointed.

I ran and ran along the trail until my heart burned in my chest and my throat screamed for a cool breath, and then I walked along the shore all the way to the lighthouse and back. A glimmering half-moon hung low in one part of the sky, while the other was lit ablaze by a fiery setting sun. I drank in shades of fuchsia and umber that I've only ever seen in my dreams. I watched a kite surfer expertly launch himself into the air and thought to myself that I couldn't remember ever seeing a more beautiful sunset in my entire life.

Then I plucked a smooth, round stone from the sand and held it tightly in my fist. I poured everything that had gone wrong that day into that rock and I hurled it into the surf as hard and as fast as I could. Sometimes, letting go really is that easy.

It was definitely the best sunset I've ever seen. It was proof of perfection that had nothing to do with me. Every day I wake up and no one asks me to paint the sky blue, to blow wind through the trees, to teach the birds to sing or the stars to shine. They are all there for me to enjoy without lifting even one finger, and I truly, truly did.

"Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better." ~Henry Rollins

First day of school!

Finally! We have the latest start of ANY school I know of, but the big day has finally arrived! Aiden was very excited this morning (and Ava insisted on wearing her backpack and having some pictures taken too:). He did wonderful at drop-off and promised me that he would try his very best to have a happy day. Fingers crossed! He'll be going M-W-F from 9-11:30am at St. Paul's Lutheran preschool. His teacher, Mrs. Percival, is very sweet and taught at the local elementary for as long as anyone can remember, lol. Several of the parents in Aiden's class had her as a teacher themselves!

Hopefully he has a great first day!

Gearing up

I am pretty sure that Chuck's been waiting since Aiden was BORN to be back in the Cleveland area, rooting for the Browns. He has two new fans joining him this year, and they are so excited:) Aiden's t-shirt ended up being HUGE, but Ava's adorable cheerleader set fits her perfectly (and was on clearance at Walmart for $5, can't beat that!) Add in a set of orange and white pom-pons from the Dollar Tree, and you have the cutest Cleveland Browns cheerleader ever:) (The only Browns cheerleader, as it turns out, as I've just learned they don't have cheerleaders, lol).

They are very excited for the first game tomorrow!

Time's a Wastin'...

Mostly, I think that the internet is a HUGE time-waster. I love it, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I stop to think about what I actually did BEFORE the internet...and I am a bit stumped. I suppose it was back in highschool and college where I spent a lot of time studying and doing homework and of course this was before laptops and smartphones and high-speed internet even existed...but still. *shudder*

Anyway, I will be the first to admit that I spend too much time on the interwebs, lol. But there are some links that I just have to check, because they make me smile or they make me laugh out loud or they make me cry or they make me second-hand embarrassed. You know what I'm talking about. :)

So, without further ado, my recommendations for the *best* time-wasters out there:

> Kelle Hampton's blog, Enjoying the Small Things. A Maconite just turned me on to this site in the past few weeks and I've spent far too much time pouring over her amazing, inspiring words and her breathtaking photographs. This is a hip, stylish Michigander mother-of-two who's been transplanted to Florida, and her newest daughter has Down Syndrome. She's an amazing writer with a HUGE internet following and I can completely see why. Check her out (start here if it's your first time to her blog).

> Texts From Last Night, F My Life, FAIL Blog, and Break.com. Nothing makes your bad day seem peachy like reading about other people's terrible lives or seeing their hilarious misgivings online.

> PostSecret.com. These are real, anonymous postcards sent in from everywhere. I can never get over the shock and awe factor of this one.

> We all need our fix of celebrity gossip. Admit it;) My faves are Perez Hilton and I'm Not Obsessed.

> When I feel like cooking, or just drooling over what someone else is cooking, it's Simply Recipes, every time.

> Your local Craigslist.com, because there is literally NOTHING you can't find on Craigslist. (Ok, probably not nothing, but still...)

> Facebook. 'Nuff said. Has there ever been a bigger internet time-waster/stalker website ever invented? Lol. Urban Dictionary defines Facebook Stalking as "A covert method of investigation using facebook.com. Good for discovering a wealth of information about people you don't actually know." Pretty darn accurate, I'd say, lol.

> Scribd. Nope, I didn't misspell it, I promise. If you LOVE to read, you will love Scribd. It is a document-sharing website which allows users to post documents of various formats, and embed them into a web page using its iPaper format. Scribd currently has more than 50 million monthly users and more than 50,000 documents are uploaded daily. I've read full-length novels on Scribd--it's a lot like having a Kindle or a Nook without the huge price-tag and without having to pay to download files. Love it.

> And my grand finale (not, not really, but this one just makes me laugh!) is People of Walmart. For real. Real pictures taken of real people at real Walmarts all over America. You'll never feel more attractive than you will after looking at these pictures;)

There you have it, all my favorite time-wasters. Now tell me how you waste YOUR time on the internet!

...

From the looks of things, you would assume I've been ignoring the blog this past week. I promise I haven't. I've written something almost every day, actually, but none of them feel quite right. Too personal, or too impersonal, or too whiney or too humble. I'm not exactly hitting "delete"--they're saved as drafts to work on at some point--but I can't quite bring myself to hit "publish" either. The problem with the weight of words is that I can't ever settle for something too heavy or too light. I want it to be just right, and I'm having an off week, I suppose.

I'm still here. We're still here. I got so very lucky and one of my best friends in the whole world came to Cleveland last week for a special meeting at Progressive and we got to hang out. We drank martinis at Bar Louie and ate cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory and sipped wine and laughed and talked and I got to stay in a hotel with 5 pillows and a giant comforter all to myself and it was a little slice of heaven:) Then the next day Chuck brought the kids out to the hotel and we swam in the heated pool for hours and splashed and played shark and it reminded me of swimming in hotel pools with my sister and brother on family vacations when we were little. And then my amazing friend came out to the house and babysat the kids and Chuck and I went out for Thai food and it was delicious and so very much appreciated. She is the best kind of friend--the one that is always there without you ever needing to ask. She's seen me through the thick and thin of the past 7 years and I don't know what my life would be like without her. Thanks, Rachele, for being so wonderfully you:)

The kids are doing great. We had a campfire last night and Ava was being the sweetest little thing this side of a powdered sugar factory. She is just like her mama and loves making up "Ava Original" songs about everything under the sun, and last night's was so adorable. "Us friends, best friends...us friends, best friends..." She kept telling me how I was her best friend and how we all made her heart so happy and I just wanted to bust mine open and gather up all of the love in my heart and save it for a rainy day when I might need a smile. She truly is my sunshine, which will probably come in handy sometime around January, lol.

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today--pounding headache, sore body, etc, it's probably allergy-related but you never know--so Chuck took the kids to a BBQ at his sister's house and I am relishing in the stillness of the house and one very warm, sleeping kitty curled up at my side.

I'll keep writing, I'm sure one of these days it's bound to be just right. ;) Happy Labor Day to all, hope it was wonderful.