Chili Kind of Weather

Except not really.  It's 75 degrees out but I wanted it.  I made a huge triple batch because it freezes so nice.  On those cold, lazy winter days, I'll just have to pull it out of the freezer and dinner will be served soon after.  Yum!

Ooh it's so good!



I also made a small batch of corn bread muffins and some cheddar garlic biscuits to go with it.



I think that I'm ready for the fall weather to officially be here.  This little burst of Indian Summer was nice but I'm ready for the sweaters!

Chicken Corn

So the other day, I was sitting around reading some blogs, when I came across this one.  Now I've been reading this blog for close to a year now.  Sometimes I'll be away for a month or so but then I always come back.  She comes up with the cutest crafts and decorating ideas that I often try to recreate with very mixed results.  But this one, totally cute and totally easy.  And on top of that, it cost me about $4 because I already had the yarn that I needed.  I just needed to buy the cones. 

Start with a cone, wrap with yellow, orange and white yarn and voila!  Super cute candy corns or as Mark's grandfather used to call it, chicken corn:)

This is where I think they will be for this year.  They look so cute from both the kitchen and the family room.



Dance Class!

This week dance class started for me.  Well technically it started last week but I couldn't go, with Mark being out of town I couldn't go and leave Annabelle all alone.  Every year at the end, close to recital, I'm completely over dance class.  Sometimes there's a bit of favoritism or we're annoyed with the song, costume, dance itself.  Sometimes it's all three!  But then September comes back around and I get excited again.

This year, there are very few of us coming back.  It's so strange because I've been dancing with a pretty strong core of women over the past five or more years.  Besides me, there are only three other women from last years group.  Then there are four newbies.  Usually we enjoy some new faces, but all four of them have never danced a step in their lives.  I don't know how Deanne, the teacher, is going to make it work this year with such a discrepancy between high and low.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out and that I won't be complaining about class three months from now!

Venting!

***This is my disclaimer.  I love my in-laws.  They are sweet, loving, giving, kind people.  I know they love me to death and would do anything for me, my husband and my daughter.  I know, from the bottom of my heart, that I am lucky to have the relationship that I have with them.  Most of my friends complain about their in-laws and I seriously don't have much to complain about.***

Except that I'm complaining now, but you know, every once in awhile it's OK.

My in-laws are going to Disney World at the end of October.  They hadn't been there since Mark and his brother were kids more than 20 years ago.  Obviously, it's very different now.  Since we had been twice in about a year in a half when they booked, they asked our opinions about it.  I walked them through the process of looking at different hotels (they are staying on property) and gave my opinion why a value resort is the best option for us.  They decided on a moderate, because at least they didn't look to kiddy, who wants a giant Mickey Mouse outside your room.  For the record, I do. 

I showed them touringplans.com and gave them my password so that she could look at the crowd calendar etc.  My MIL seemed confused by this so I sat down with her and showed her everything I know.  Now I'm not saying I'm an expert here.  I've gone twice, planning on my own, did tons of research on a ga-billion Disney sites and talked to my expert, Stephanie.  But I gave my MIL everything she needed to decide what she wanted but still ended up doing it for her.

Then it was time to start looking at dining.  You have to make reservations if you're going to Disney if you want to eat at a normal dinner hour or want something other than sandwiches or hamburgers.  My in-laws are picky eaters.  I went on allears.net.  I spent almost 2 hours looking at dining menus, every single restaurant menu, even if I knew they would never in a million years try Boma or Yak and Yeti.  I printed out the menus of places they would like, told them our favorite restaurants, encouraged them to go to Sci-Fi and Ohana.  We love both of these mostly because of the ambiance and decor at Sci-Fi, though we haven't ever had a bad meal there and Ohana just for all of it.  The food is awesome, the decor is great, and the entertainment is so fun even if you're not participating.  They decided not to go to either place.  They originally booked both and within the last week, changed their reservations. 

I know it' stupid to be so bothered by this.  It just annoys me that every single thing that I spent so much time and effort on, they aren't doing it.  They chose different resorts, different restaurants and now she tells me that they think this whole vacation is a mistake.  They don't like rides, dad doesn't want to see fireworks or parades, they refuse to have a part of any character interaction and they won't bring their camera because what could they possibly need a picture of at Disney World. 

Plus on top of it, when she found out we'll be going next year with my mom and dad, she got kinda pissy with me.  I had offered to go on a vacation with them in the past.  It didn't have to be Disney.  Annabelle can go anywhere, but she declined saying she didn't want to do a family vacation with us.  My mom said that she wanted to go to Disney with her grand kids the minute she found out I was pregnant.

I'm just confused by my in-laws I guess.  Sometimes their mood swings from one thing to another can make me dizzy.  They don't want to go on vacation with us but are mad that we have plans to go with my parents.  It just drives me crazy sometimes.  I love them but I really just needed to get it off of my chest.

Bragging About My Sweet Girl

A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I got to meet Annabelle's teacher.  She explained how she disciplined but stated that she liked to "catch" kids being good.  She would point them out when they are doing what they should, without being asked.  It was an especially helpful reminder if there is another student not doing so.  Something along the lines of, "Hey everyone did you notice how Annabelle got right to work at her desk?  Great job Annabelle!"  Hopefully then the other students would catch on, want to be praised and there's no hurt feelings.

So last week, I noticed when Annabelle got off of the bus, that she had a big sticker on her shirt.  It said Caught Doing Good.  When I asked her about it she gave me her proud, shy smile and explained that Mrs. Tripi had told her she was doing a great job all day.  I was so proud and happy for her and I told her so.  Last year we had to have a few talks with her about not socializing too much but working hard as well.  But this year she seems very focused on learning.  She can't wait to read and does "read" to us from her books that she's memorized whenever she can.  Don't get me wrong, I still hear about all that's going on during free play and lunch and all the friend stuff, but she's excited to be learning big kid stuff.

But all of that, as awesome as it was, wasn't the best part.  After I told her how proud I was, she peeled her sticker off her chest and put it on me.  Then she said, "I just caught you being a super mom.  Good Job!"  I still get a big smile on face thinking about it.  There are so many days when I struggle with what I'm doing.  Second guessing if I'm doing enough for Annabelle, being good enough.  That one little stupid sticker made both of our days that much better.  I love that I'm doing something right.  She's sweet girl and I hope that I'm helping her along the way become an even better person than she already is.

Autumn!

Today is the first official day of Autumn.  Even though the weather isn't super Fall-ish yet and the leaves are only beginning to change, I'm happy to be putting up some of our Fall/Halloween decorations.  I'm moving slowly on it.  I mean I wouldn't want to rush it too much, I'll be dreading the cold soon.  I'm just not there yet.

My little Autumn motif by the front door.  Unfortunately I keep thinking that there is a man standing out front every time I glance out and see the scarecrow.  It creeps me out a little bit:)

The Deck!

So the deck has been finished for about a week and a half and this girl is all smiles now!  I'm so in love with our color combo.  We played on the decking website to decide on colors for decking, trim, rails, balusters, etc but it's still nerve wracking when you spend all this money and only have a vague idea about what it will look like.  We decided not to put the furniture and table and such up there because it's going to be Fall.  There is not going to be many chances left to eat a meal outside or really enjoy the deck.  Next Spring I'm sure there will be some pictures of us up there with it really finished.  Without further ado, here is the deck.

There's still some scrap decking up there.  Mark's going to be building Nigel a cat perch so that he can hang with us outside.

The wrap around box step.  Mark is so proud of it.  It must be harder to build than a regular step.

The pretty, pretty railings in black.

Just a close up on the color combo.  Teak inner decking, walnut trim, fascia and railings, black balusters and posts.