Smells like Fall

Fall has most definitely arrived! This past week has been in the low 60s and 50s during the day, which is quite a break from our usual high 70s and 80s. It's even been cold at night, well, cold for here anyways. The leaves have begun to turn and it finally feels like Fall. To celebrate, we've enjoyed a toasty fire today and have been spending some time in the kitchen. H1 made a delicious cheesy potato soup for lunch. We'll have some leftovers of that for dinner, along with splitting a steak that I'm thawing out and some broccoli. There will even be enough for two lunches this week for H1 and 2 for H3 as well, and some to freeze for dinner. Mmmmmm!

Toasty Fire
Cheesy Potato Soup

After the soup, I made Peanut Butter Popcorn squares--a childhood favorite and incredibly simple to make (recipe below).

After the squares, I made a peach cobbler to go with dinner.

I must say that it smells divine in this kitchen, especially with the fire going! As I'm typing I can hear H1 out back chopping up more wood. I've been working on H3's scrapbook in between bakings. I'm hoping to have a few more pages done before my father-in-law arrives on Friday. I feel bad having my mess out on the kitchen table, so I'm going to have to stash everything somewhere before then.

Another project we've been working on this past week is the front of our house. Even though we are just renting it, I couldn't stand the mess. We put some grass seed down to help with our dirt yard (almost the entire front is black dirt, which turns to mud of course when it rains). The front planter bed is a mess too. While I'm not quite willing to spring for new rocks to line it, I did rearrange the concrete blocks and we have added mulch. Below is H1 working on that.

Before adding mulch to the right side

With mulch on the left side, and H1 working to dig up the walkway

H3 discovered how to get in and out of her toybox this week. Oh what fun! It does provide her endless amusement though. She loves to drop toys into it, then crawl in to get them and throw them back out.

Peanut Butter Popcorn Squares recipe

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

8 cups popcorn

Bring corn syrup, sugar, and peanut butter to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring constantly. Add popcorn and toss with wooden spoons to coat. Press into buttered 9x13 pan and let cool. Cut into squares and enjoy!

~H2

Lovely outing

Today H3 and I enjoyed a trip to Newport News to meet some friends for shopping/lunch. We browsed through Kohl's and Lifeway Christian Bookstore before heading to Panera Bread for lunch (smoked turkey sandwich and black bean soup for me with a chai tea latte, spaghetti for H3 since she didn't want my lunch--normally she does). We then went to Michael's to pick up some crafting supplies for Robyn and I got some idea's for H1 and H3's Christmas stockings.

In my family, Christmas stockings are a pretty big deal My grandmother (mom's mom) handmade mine and my parents and they are extremely elaborate with tons of beadwork. I'll have to post pictures when I take mine out from storage. Anyways, part of the tradition is to add a little pin to the stocking each year. H1 and H3 have stockings, sort of, but aren't the same as mine and my folks so I'm going to attempt to make them. My grandmother is no longer able to do so, even though she was going to try at one point when H1 and I first got married. Again, the detail work is pretty incredible so I'm not 100% sure I'm up for the task but I will try! I did find pins to add to our stockings this year when I was at Kohl's, so now I have good motivation.

Anyways, back to the outing. It was so nice to be in some adult company! H3 is delightful, of course, but her conversation is a bit limited in depth. H1 usually doesn't get home until late, so often days go by without me talking to anyone except for H3 until late in the evening (my choice, I have to admit). I don't usually mind it because I have a million and one projects I'm working on around here, but occasionally the contact is nice! Dean and Robyn are such a sweet and fun couple too. Even when we do nothing I still enjoy hanging out with them.

Robyn taught me to make pan rolls a couple years back, which is what I made tonight. The house smells delicious and they went perfectly with the chicken. She taught me how to do the chicken too! She bakes hers in the oven, but I've been using a crockpot. Today I buttered the chicken (a whole one, minus the innerds) and added McCormicks Grillmatessalt-free chicken seasoning to it and stuck it in for 8 hours. It just fell off the bone by the time it was done. So yummy. H3 loved it too and ate about twice the amount I expected her too. I think my favorite part about it is that it takes about 5 minutes of prep to take it out of the packaging, butter it, put the seasoning on and stick it in the crockpot. By dinnertime it's ready to go and I didn't have to do a thing all day. Ahhhhhhh. Thanks Robyn!

~H2

Projects and such

Yesterday H1 surprised me and took the day off of work! He did have a good excuse, seeing as the football team didn't get back until 11:30 last night from their game and he didn't get home until 1am after waiting around for parents to pick their kids up and getting uniforms in the wash. After getting plenty of sleep (waking up around 10am), he started on some of the outdoor project we needed done, like trimming the back hedges, chopping up the wood on the side of the house, washing the siding on the front of the house, and cleaning up the front yard. I am sooo grateful to have all that done.

This afternoon is the homecoming parade and homecoming game at H1's school. We'll be heading over there sometime this afternoon for that--not quite sure when. In preparation for the big day, H3 was checking out some hats at the local Walmart. I had to inform her that as much as her daddy likes the NY Giants, that's not the game we're going to today. Haha!





I don't know if you remember waaaaay back when we moved into this house and I posted pictures of the mess, but I do have an update on one of the messy rooms! The second bedroom in this house was initially being used just for storage and was piled floor to ceiling with boxes. Through lots of hours of organizing, donating, and filling trash bags, here is the result! Hallelujah! Granted, it's not completely done and there's still a lot more to do, but I can at least see that there is a floor in there, more or less.






Another project that I've started recently is H3's baby scrapbook. Below are a few pictures of what I've done so far and the mess that I'm making on the kitchen table in the process. It will be so nice to have that second bedroom done so I can relocate this project in there!

~H2

Gooey fudge mint chip brownies

This recipe is a favorite around our house, especially with H1 and H3. H1 says they remind him of Andes mints, which are his favorite!

Gooey Fudge Mint Chip brownies

1 cup margarine or butter
4oz unsweetened chocolate (I use Baker's chocolate squares)
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 bag Hersheys mint chocolate chips
Chocolate syrup


Grease 9x13 pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350. Melt margarine and chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Stir until just combines. Stir in flour. Add 1/2 bag of mint chips and a couple squirts of chocolate syrup. Pour into pan. Sprinkle remaining ships over batter...minus a small handful. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream and sprinkle ice cream with remaining chips!


~H2

Fun times in Norfolk

Yesterday our family met up with Amber, my college roommate, at Schlotzsky's in Norfolk. I think that place is my favorite sandwich shop in the world! It's a little chain out of Texas and they have the most amazing sourdough bread. The original purpose of our trip was to check out an acoustic festival being held at the park next door. It wasn't quite what we expected and the atmosphere wasn't an enjoyable as we'd hoped either. The music was nice, but from the advertisements we thought there would be more of it! They did have a book fair alongside it though that featured local artists. I bought a book for H3 entitled "The Little Pot" and the author signed it for her. The story is about a little fruit pot who was trying to figure out what the potter meant for him to be. It's a very cute story based out of a verse in Galations and well-illustrated. I hope H3 will enjoy it!

After browsing the book fair, we stopped into Nauticus, a local naval museum. Since the festival was free, we didn't bring a lot of money with us and didn't feel like paying the $11 to see the exhibits, but then we discovered that the self-guided tour through the USS Wisonsin (a WWII battleship that served in the Korean War and Gulf War as well) and accompanying exhibit were free! We took about 1 hour to browse the exhibit and the ship and it was then that I really wished I hadn't left my camera at home! In the rush to get out the door for church I completely forgot it! Amber took a couple pictures so I'm going to try and track down some from here. Anyways, I was pleased to note that the tour was very stroller and wheelchair friendly, so maybe one of these days I can bring my parents here or Grandpa. I'm sure he'd enjoy taking a look at it! The Wisconsin was decommissioned in 1991 and is technically in mothball state, waiting to be permanantly retired as a museum ship. We did find out though that the engines were cooled and sealed in such a manner as to prevent rust and would be in perfect working condition if needed again! They are kept at a constant temp of 40 degrees!

There seem to be a lot of festivals in this area over the next couple months and most are free, so hopefully we'll get to explore a few more of them and in the future I will try to remember my camera!

~H2

H3 Birthday and Misc

H3's little first birthday party was a success! We went down to a park and had pizza, cake, and chips with my college roommate and another family (Dean, Robyn, and their 3 beautiful daughters). H3 looked very happy throughout the whole thing and even marked her slice of the cake while we were singing happy birthday to her. I can't believe my little one is a year old. How fast she's grown! After food, we took the kids over to Fort Fun, the delightful playground at the park. Granted, it had been drizzling most of the time so everything was wet, but they had fun anyways! I like taking H3 there on nice days during the week and we swing. It's probably the nicest playground I've ever seen and wonderful for kids.

I found out on Saturday morning that I finally passed my EMT test! Woohoo! It's done, over, finished, no more headaches from studying! My test partner and I are both very excited. For now we are just volunteering at the rescue squad. I may pursue a part time job later in that field but for now I just really enjoy volunteering. This certification is also for the Boy Scout camp during the summer, so it's a relief to have that done now.

I've got mac n' cheese in the oven for H1's school today--a farewell/congratulations party for his principal who was promoted to assistant superintendent. I know she'll do a wonderful job because she's a wonderful, talented lady, but we'll miss her at the school. She was a delight for H1 to work for. Time to get that out and over.

Until next time!

~H2

Back again!

We returned last night around 11pm from a quick weekend trip to OH to visit my folks. What a whirlwind--but a good one! Friday was my b-day, and in the morning H1 made me yummy pecan pancakes with peanut butter on top! A friend from church brought over some wood that he had cut down on his property so he and H1 spent some time getting it further chopped and situated. Then, H1, H3, and I went to lunch at Applebees. H1 had to leave at 2:00 to get ready for a football game that night, so I gave H3 a bath and she helped me pack (more like unpack what I was trying to pack) and we loaded up the car. H3 and I arrived at the game around halftime and then met up with H1 afterwards and at 10pm we set off for Ohio! The drive was pretty nice, actually. Very quite and little traffic. H1 and I took turns driving so both of us got some sleep (H3 slept the whole way) and we arrive around 8am. After breakfast and a nap for H3, we took a few minutes to celebrate a belated b-day for me and an early b-day for H3 before heading to the park by the lake (Erie). Dad grilled chicken for dinner and we accompanied it with corn-on-the-cob. Yum!
Sunday morning we visited my parents church (minus Mom because she wasn't feeling too good) and then returned for lunch. Mom was starting to feel better so we decided to visit the Cleveland zoo (so glad that my grandfather gave Mom a wheelchair so she is able to go to some places like this where she couldn't before). The zoo was a pretty decent size and the exhibits were laid out well--especially the Australian one. I don't think I've ever been that close to a kangaroo or a koala! H3 seemed to like the big cats (a.k.a. the tigers). Dinner was pizza and leftover cake and we went to bed early. Monday we pretty much just packed and chatted for a bit before leaving at 11am to head home. We were originally expecting to be home around 9:30 that night, but hit a few holiday traffic jams. Oh well. At least we made it back and H1 got a few hours of sleep before school today!
Today was the first day with the kids back in school. He said it went ok, but not as well as he was hoping. His schedule is a lot different than last year, so that will take some getting used to--if they will ever give him any details about what he's supposed to be doing! This week will be pretty busy for him. He has a game tomorrow night (Wed) and Friday night, and then Thursday night after football practice he's meeting H3, me, and a few friends at the park to celebrate H3's birthday. He'll only get to stay for about 30 mins though because he has worship practice at church too! Our worship leader is gone this Sunday so H1 is filling in.
I don't think H3 will be to offended about getting cake twice in one week. I hate to spoil her too much, but my parents really wanted to celebrate her birthday with her even though it was early and I wanted to at least do something the day of as well. I requested presence, as opposed to presents, at her little party. The park there is pretty nice and probably has the best playground I've ever seen. There's just a couple people coming...my college roommate Amber, and then our friends Dean and Robyn and their 3 girls. This is to celebrate that H3 is a year old and that H1 and I made it through our first year as parents. Hurray!

Below are some pictures from our trip.

H3 surprised us by making a dash up the stairs--her first time climbing them since we don't have any!

Getting a ride on Daddy's shoulders

Dad and Mom, H1 and H3


Opening her birthday presents

Mom and H3 at the park

Dad grilling chicken

H3 getting some cake!

H1 and H3 with the cake before it was eaten

~H2