Fall

Last weekend was the epitome of a great fall weekend. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, but not too warm. We had a week of sunny weather and the colors started to pop. 

We started out on Saturday morning going to my grandson's soccer game. Again, it was a beautiful day.

Nickel played a great game and he scored 2 goals. He's the one in the white t-shirt holding the gold ball.

We went to lunch with Christine's family and then went to meet Daddy and Nicole at a farm for a real fall experience.

I'm not sure what she was thinking when I took this picture. The bell is in the middle of the corn maze and everyone rings the bell when they get there. She was pretty silly that day.

She and her Daddy would run ahead of Nicole and I. She likes to pretend she is running away from us, but never getting so far away that she couldn't see me.

We made it out of the corn maze!

Nice picture of Brian and Nicole.

Of course, A. joined them.

They enjoyed running around the farm. You can see the corn maze just behind the barn. The chickens came by and the kids chased them around the farm. The pigs are just next to the barn, but they were sleeping when we went to see them.

She wanted to go down to the little barn and play with the vehicles. Of course, she lined them up. She was pretty proud to show me that.

It started to cool off and cloud up, and it was time to go home. 

It rained most of this week. I drove all around Leelanau County last week, and the trees were colorful, just beautiful. Monday morning was still sunny, and I took a couple of pictures at the marina.

We stayed home today, and it has been cloudy and rainy all day. The sun peeked out for a short time and I took this picture of my trees in the front yard.

We went for a short walk while the sun was out, but it started to rain again while we were walking, so we scooted back home. That's ok, staying home all day was a good thing as I was able to get caught up on lots of computer work that I got behind on.

Next week is supposed to be rainy every day, and they even put the dreaded word "snow" in the forecast a few nights. We are putting a extra blankets on our beds and will undoubtedly wear winter coats next week. It's that time of year again!

My Goal for Today

I'm sitting here at the table with my iPad while A. is still sleeping, catching up on some blogs I like to follow. One talked about not letting addictions take over your life. I got to thinking about what are my addictions. I can think of two that are right up there for me. One is food. I'm not talking about overeating enough to make me obese, I'm not that. I am consistently about 20 lbs. over my ideal weight. I'm talking about how, at the end of the day, what relaxes me and makes me feel good. So if I have anything sweet or unhealthy in the house, I go for that. Lately I have been pretty good about keeping that stuff out of the house. But we made cupcakes yesterday, so I'm guessing today it is going to be hard to keep away from them. And, when grocery shopping the other night, I picked up a couple of bags of Halloween candy. I try to trick myself and put them in places that are not right out in the open, hoping to keep from eating the entire bag in one sitting. We'll see how that works this week.

The second addiction I have is watching tv. I LOVE to have the tv on all day long. I'll watch just about anything, from Duck Dynasty to Storage Wars to Dateline & 20/20 to old movies on TCM. I watched a Molly Ringwald marathon this week, Singing in the Rain, & Something's Gotta Give.

Sometimes I'm good at having the tv on in the background and going about my stuff, cleaning up the kitchen, laundry, etc. But if I have on HLN and they are doing some wonderful upgrading of someone's house or yard, I feel the need to watch it as I might learn something very important that I can use when I upgrade my own house (when that will be I don't know). But I feel I need to store this information so I have it in my head when I need it.

I'm sure all this background noise I need, including the radio, means I have a hard time being quiet, which leads to me not facing my inner thoughts. I don't know, maybe I'll find out.

I made an important goal for today. I'm planning to stay in the house all day today so I can catch up on so much stuff. I'm planning to spend the day without the tv on. I don't know if I can convince A. to achieve this goal with me, but I'm thinking if I don't mention turning on the tv, she may not ask. This is a big deal for me, so wish me luck!

First week of school

Aaralynne started Kindergarten this week. She has attended ECP, which is a pre-school class for children who are challenged, since just before she turned 3. And every first day of school, I have traditionally taken a picture of A. on the front deck. But this year, I totally forgot. I was so consumed with making sure we got out the door on time, that picture taking was not on my mind. So when we got to school and we were heading toward school, I told her to turn around and took this picture.

She's wearing a new jacket and had trouble unzipping it because there are velcro tabs to keep the flap shut and she didn't know how to navigate it.

I wanted to get a cute picture of her in front of her locker, but she was so distracted by the other kids that she couldn't even look at me.

She must have figured out getting on the bus (thank you teachers who pay attention to this) as she does make it home every day. Who hasn't heard a story about a kindergartener who got on the wrong bus and ended up on the other side of town! They have color-coded bus passes now, so there is less room for error.

Since I have adjusted my work schedule, I am here when she gets home. On the rare week when my boss is on vacation and I have to cover her clients along with my own, there is an after-school program A. can go to. To be here when she gets off the bus is like heaven to me. Since the first of this year, I have been driving many miles to have someone watch her while I work. Now I am spending less time in the car, and less money on gas. A. was able to ride her bike, and play with friends after school the first day. Yesterday I worked from home (which is even more heavenly) and we went to the grocery store after school. I am feeling so much more relaxed, and the other big bonus is that my house is more orderly.

There's a little girl who lives in the apartments across the street, and Ryan who is 8 and lives down the block, who she can play with after school. Ryan is her protector and makes sure she and the little girl get off the bus, even though I am standing right there. But because he is 8 and knows so much, there is no holding him back when he feels responsible for these 2 girls. He's a cutie.

Every time I ask A. what she did in school today, she says "I don't know." I ask questions like "did you read books?" or "did you work with letters and numbers?" or "did you sing songs today?" I ask "how was lunch in the cafeteria?" Every time--every.single.time.--she says "I don't know" or she doesn't even answer me. But she did say to me several times "if you want to ask a question, you have to raise your hand." Or even better "the rule is no touching anybody else" or "the rule is no pushing people." Now there is an eye-opener. I'm guessing she did those things. I know that when she is playing with babies, and someone comes and gets in her space, she has been know to push them away. So now my opinion of kindergarten teachers has skyrocketed. God Bless these ladies who have to teach these children the basics on how to behave in school. I'm sure we all think we teach our kids as much as we can the best we can. But some things the kids just have to live through before they get it.

It works for me to take her to school every morning. School starts at 8:00 and the kids here get on the bus at 6:45. We live 6 minutes from school, so it did not make sense to me to put her on the bus over an hour before she has to be there. This way she can sleep in until 6:30 and we leave here at 7:45. I head right out to work after I take her into school. Today, as we were driving to school, she asked me "is this the last day of school?" I explained the whole deal about going to school during the week and being home on the weekends. I'm not sure if she gets it, but she does well with schedules, so I'm hoping she'll get used to it. She's pretty tired when it is time to go to bed, and now it is almost dark by 7:30, so there is less time to play. I still hear singing and talking in bed, but she sleeps well. I have been blessed with a sleeper as she will often sleep 11 or 12 hours every night. 

I guess I was fairly stressed by the change in schedule that on the evening of the first day of school, I fell asleep at 8:15 in my chair watching tv, crawled to bed at 10:00 and slept until 4:15 am. My alarm wakes me at 4:30 each morning. I find that as I am older, I like to lay in bed for a while waking up. I watch the news that I missed the night before and of course, check my facebook. That sleeping in my chair only happened once, but I must have needed the sleep.

The weather cooled off last Monday, so with the start of school, it really feels like fall. We saw pumpkins in the store yesterday, but I resisted the urge to buy one. Last year, at Target's after-Halloween sale, I picked up a few pumpkin decorations and plan to get those out soon.  

Here is a picture of A. at the movies with her Dad. I did not know that my iPhone was equipped with a flash. Surprised me in the very dark theater.

It was a chilly, rainy day. Since we couldn't play outside and the Children's Museum was closed for maintenance, we decided to try a movie. We saw Planes. This was the first time I have taken her to a movie. In this day and age, just watching a movie at home is more the norm. She did OK, but ended up on my lap for most of the movie. She likes any opportunity to sit on my lap. Those long legs are going to get in the way pretty soon, but she loves me to hold her like a baby.

So the first week of school is over. I don't know about anyone else, but I am sleeping in tomorrow morning!

Summer 2013 Family Visits

This summer has been very busy. Now that I am back working, there doesn't seem to be enough time for fun. But sometime we just have to make time.

My sister and her husband are living in Arizona and they came to the midwest for a wedding and graduation this summer, and packed all kinds of visits in, too.  They came up to Traverse City on a Monday for one night to my daughter's house. I had to work, but I came after work. I was lucky that my daughter watched A. for me that day, so all I had to do was show up for dinner. Afterward we met A's Daddy at the local ice cream shop, but they were packed and hosting a benefit. So we went into TC and found a cute little ice cream shop where we all had a great family visit and some good ice cream treats.

We went to the fair again with A's step-siblings. They got to go on the rides and had a great time.

Here are a couple of random shots of A. with Baby Kimmie.

    Too Cute!

    And too silly!

And finally my visit to Indiana to see family. It was Western Days Festival in August. I knew several of my siblings were going to be there, so A. & I packed up for a whirlwind weekend with family. Turns out I was able to see my 4 brothers and 2 sisters, 10 nieces and nephews, some spouses in there and there were 9 great nieces & nephews. 

This is the youngest group--the oldest is a teenager and the youngest just turned one this summer.

This pic is a little off-center, but these are the cousins who were there, missing 2 girls who came later.

These are my siblings with 2 spouses. We are arranged in birth order starting on the left.

And here is the bunch of us who made it to Indiana for the weekend. Emily and Lindsey had to work, so they came later, but missed the pictures. My oldest brother came from Michigan City with his daughter and 3 grandsons. My youngest brother came from PA with his 2 daughters. My middle sister came from AZ, and her 2 daughters who live in Chicago were there. My FL brother came with his wife as part of a 3-week summer trip out East. His 2 boys were here, one with his girlfriend and their small daughter. We gathered at my sister's house with her husband and daughter. My younger brother, who I stayed with, lives close by and brought his 2 granddaughters. His oldest daughter came later. My oldest daughter combined a trip to Chicago with this visit and was there with her husband and 3 boys. 

A few random photos:

    A. can't stay away from little ones.

    Sisters!

    My sister got to be good friends with little Ella.

This is a good friend from high school who is also close to the family. He was up north for a tennis tournament (he's a tennis ref). He surprised us and stopped on his way back to Alabama.

Then my brother and I took the kids to the Festival to ride the rides. 

It was HOT!

I tried to take a few random pictures of the family when we were sitting around, but they weren't flattering, so I'll just add the one that was. Emily finally made it and A. was happy to see her.

It was so good to see so many family members together. This was a fast and furious visit for all of us. I told everyone that I felt like I was at something like one of those speed dating things where you only get 2 minutes to talk to someone and then buzz, you have to move on. But I was able to speak to and hug everyone, so it was well worth the effort!

We stayed at my brother's, and his granddaughters were there, too. The girls played well together and really didn't want to leave each other.

It's been so much fun spending time with family. As you can see, I spend most of my time with family. They are so very important to me, and I cherish each and every one.

Goin' to the Fair

It's been a busy summer and I haven't blogged since May. Shame on me. So much has gone on, and I'm pretty much working full-time again--all good excuses, but not really. So here is what we did this weekend.

We went to breakfast/lunch with Daddy and Nicole at Cracker Barrel on Saturday mid-day.

And when she brought Baby Kimmie, she was pretty insistent that Kimmie have her own high chair. The waitress was sweet and very accommodating.

It was a nice day so we decided to go to a great playground where she and Daddy could play. And I say that with all sincerity in that she and Daddy really do play together. He swings with her (we were pretty excited as she seemed like she can pump herself now, not real well, but enough to keep herself going) and climbs the play structure with her to help and encourage. He rides every play thing he can with her. She laughs the entire time we are together. I took many more pictures with his phone than I did with mine.

We usually go to church with Daddy and Nicole on Sundays, but Nicole hurt her back last Sunday and has been off work all week--indefinitely until she is better. So we tried to think of things to do that would be OK for Nicole to handle with her sore back. Walking seems to be better than sitting, so the park yesterday was a good idea. Today we thought we would go to the Fair. It's opening day today, so the rides and many of the vendors were not up and running yet. No matter, A. found plenty to keep herself occupied. First thing we found were tractors, and they let the kids climb all over them.

  
We thought we would eat right away, before petting the animals. We had hot dogs, corn dogs, and Italian sausage w/peppers and onions--just the beginning of our County Fair food. Elephant Ear was next.

We went to look at the animals. Her sitter who lives down the street entered a pig in the fair, so we went looking for the pigs. The pig building was closed, but we hooked up with the sitter and she showed us her pig, "Scarlett." We also ran into my daughter's neighbor/babysitter who entered her horse in the fair. 

We saw ducks

   chickens

more chickens

llamas

donkeys

cows that were safer to pet when they were lying down

and goats that were on leashes just like dogs.

We ate home made hand pies, and icees. We took cotton candy home in a bag. We saw goats, draft horses, ponies, and Shetland ponies being judged. She declined a pony ride. Maybe next year.

And she got to play on more tractors.

We ran into her step-sister, Kristin, with her Grandma and cousin's family.

We thought we would be there about an hour, and ended up staying 3 hours. We had a great time, and we're glad we went. It was just a little cooler than I liked. When we left home it was sunny and warm, but it was cloudy and cool at the Fair. I wished I had brought sweatshirts for us.

On the way home A. asked if we could go for a walk. After 3 hours of walking around the fairgrounds, no surprise I said no. 

We're taking it easy now, and I'm just waiting for bedtime, for her and for me.  Hope everyone had a great weekend, too.