Book 54 - Bastards by Mary King

So even though I finished my list I still have been reading a few books.  I tried to finish "Yes Please" by Amy Poelher too but the library wanted it back before I did finished it - this is the second attempt I did with this book so I am not likely to try again. But anyhow I did read another a memoir - Bastards by Mary King.  It was in my recommended queue so I went with it.  It was pretty good the childhood stories were interesting and detailed, I wasn't so wild about the end it was all hurry up and get to the point that it just seemed so fast toward the end. But it was still a good book, some sad with some humor and feel good aspects in there too.

Tuesday 10 - October

1. Family Day trips.  We went to Covered Bridge festival we didn't buy a thing but enjoyed bridges, walking and jones liked finding animals.

2. Chopstick attempts

3. Loaner Vans

4. The master of the slide.  He's soooo proud he can do this all by himself.

5. Cousin's birthdays 

6. First field trips.  We went to pumpkin patch. Jones was super excited by the animals and had the best time with his class.

7. My first purchase for the new baby.  $.99 overalls. I also bought her a jumper.

8. Baby Bomber Jackets - seriously this is too cute.

9. Visits from Aunties.

10. Zoo Boo.  The zoo membership might have been one of our best purchases of the year - next year I want to do zoo and the children's museum. We can go for an hour or all day and we don't care if we see one animal or 10 but it's a good time.

4:12 Rolled Sugar Cookies

I have made Sugar Cookies many times before usually using the Betty Crocker Recipe or Julie's Recipe (a friend).  But since I am trying 12 new recipes this year I found an alternative recipe.  We cheated though and used store bought icing.

The recipe I used is here from Family Spice true to form I modified it and added 2 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of almond extract.  http://familyspice.com/recipes/recipe/?recipe_id=458. 

They cookies turned out pretty good, Dustin said he likes the usual recipe better because it's more doughy less cakey.  But I think these were good and soft and not to sweet.  I did make 1.5x the recipe because 4 of us were decorating seems we run out of creative ideas at about 3 cookies each so we could have just done the 1x recipe.  I also cut everything in circles because I don't have many Halloween shapes, but I think that worked perfectly.  

3:12 meatball Strongaoff

So we made this one several months back and enjoyed it.  We used this recipe http://menumusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/meatballs-stroganoff.html?m=1 

This time however we used turkey meatballs, chicken broth, and no cream cheese, I think we liked it better.  I might have also tossed in some extra spice too.   The first time I tossed in some frozen peas too which I rather liked.   Sorry I didn't take more photos.  Anyhow so that's recipe 3.  I guess I need to pick up the pace. 

preschool age 1

Jones started preschool in August.  It's really just a semi expensive daycare that has structured activities for all the children.  But I feel better calling it "school" rather than daycare.

It's been a huge change around here it's so weird not having him to hang out with at lunch or to pop in and say "hi mama" during the day.  It's also been a struggle for both me and him at the drop offs.  He cries and wants me to stay and play.  We've maybe had 4 days where there wasn't crying.  Apparently it lasts just a few minutes.  But still it's heart breaking, leaving your baby with virtual strangers day in and day out.  Ugh!

But it's also been good.  I am much more productive at work there's consistency in the sitter and he actually loves school.  He shows me his favorite toys at pickup and he's been learning things like picking up toys and blowing his nose.  It also makes me appreciate our evenings and weekends together sooooo much more.  

Anyhow I was originally only going to share his first school pic but then I got to rambling.  Anyhow here it is - no smiling Jones dressed in a ridiculous onesie because mommy forgot it was picture day. Oh well!  I love it anyhow.

561.5/1000 miles

In September I was going to make a better effort to wear my Fitbit and keep it charged.  Ha!  I actually did worse than normal maybe 10 days went by were I forgot it until noon or 3pm.  I had several days where I wore it dead too.  Clearly I didn't make a special point to capture the miles.  As a result September seems like a pretty walk less month, although I did try and get out and walk more as well as do things with Jones.  With that said I added 50 miles to the tally based on what was tracked and I am now at 561.5 for the year, still pretty shy of my 1000 goal.  But I'm going to plug along and still see what it looks like for the entire 12 months.

September 2015 - Family Photos

Well My friend took some family photos too but they aren't back yet (patiently waiting I swear).  But I did get a few at the end of the month for my project. These first two are from Homecoming, the first is terrible of me what am I doing there?

This bottom one is better though. 

We also got a family + shot at the orchard I love that jones is throwing his "ball" aka apple. There are several variations of this one but this is my favorite.