A new Tradition

Last night, we started what we hope will be a Halloween tradition for our family. Since we live where it can be 80+ degrees in October, we have to wait until the last minute to carve our pumpkins. So last night we have a pumpkin night. We had bacon and pumpkin pancakes (both flavored and shaped) for dinner. Then we carved out pumpkins and watched the Charlie Brown special The Great Pumpkin on TV. As long as ABC cooperates and shows it every October 30th at 8, I think we will try to do this every year. It was really fun. And Carson didn't know he was eating pumpkin in his pancakes!
And, oh my gosh, what were people thinking letting Sabrina go on Dancing. Now, how is a woman going to win. I must admit I am pulling for Jenny, but I don't know if she can do it.
I will try to get some pictures from last night and tonight up tomorrow. I am sure I will have a zillion!

Birthdays and Macie eating

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at my friend Lynn's house from college. There are 4 of us who try to get together every now and again. Since this past weekend was the Georgia Florida game, it was a perfect excuse for us to get together. When we got home, we left all the stuff in the car. Sunday after church, I brought the bags inside. One of them had a box of Gerber toddler crackers we had taken for Macie. The bag was on the coffee table, but Macie managed to pull the bag down, get the box of crackers out of the bag, and open the box. The pictures to the right are how we found her! This was after she had eaten lunch. Have I mentioned she likes to eat?

Yesterday was my birthday. On Sunday, I told Jeff what I want next year from my birthday. It is truly a sign that I am getting old. I would have loved this gift this year, but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. So, what is it that I want? I want Jeff to take the day off of work. He will get up and get Carson ready for school. If we send Macie next year he can get her ready too. I get to sleep in a little late. We will then all go to breakfast as a family. After we get the kids to school, Jeff and I will spend the day Christmas shopping. He thinks this sounds like a miserable way to spend your birthday, but for me, it will be wonderful. It isn't because I love to shop. It is because ALL of the holiday shopping falls on my shoulders. I have to come up with the ideas, purchase the gifts, wrap the gifts, and make sure they get to the correct place. In addition, we have 9 birthdays in the family this time of year. Somehow, this was in the fine print of our marriage liscense. A great deal for Jeff, but a really crappy one for me. For me to have all of his family taken care of and most of the kids gifts and my family before November will be the greatest gift. It will take away lots of stress and give me time to enjoy the fun of the holidays. Plus, if I can get Jeff to smile and not complain, we can get some quality time together. (Have I ever mentioned that quality time and acts of service are my love languages?) Maybe knowing that this year is the last time I have to do it alone will make it easier for me!
By the way, I really do enjoy trying to find gifts for people. It just gets to the point where it is too much all at once!

Chick-fil-a

Macie and I have music class on Mondays. There is about an hour between the end of class and getting Carson from school. We have come home a couple times, but really it isn't worth the time. So, today we went to the Chick-fil-a at Roswell Corners. It is across the street from Carson's school, so it is the perfect location for us to pass a little time. I have been to this particular location about 500 times. I am probably not exagerating! Carson, Jeff and I all love the food and it is close to our house. Today, I had such great service, I had to talk about it.
First, as I walked up carrying Macie and all the stuff that goes with her, one of the workers came to open the door for me. I ordered and got my food quickly. The same lady carried my food to our table and got me a straw, spoon and napkins. She also got a table topper (A little plastic thing you can put on the table so kids don't have to eat off the public table. They just got them at this location and I am very excited) She also went behind the counter where they keep a box of Cherrios for little ones. She came by to check on me several times and took my trash when I was finished. I did not get her name, but she went out of her way to make things easy for me. I did not really need another reason to go to Chick-fil-a, but it is a nice added bonus.
For those of you with little ones, I recommend you try to soup for them. Macie loved the pasta, carrots and chicken. She also loves the grilled chicken and fries, but I feel better if she eats carrots instead of fries!

Pictures

We got our proofs from Saturday's pictures yesterday. Now, we have the difficult task of deciding what we want to order. I am not very good at making the decisions! We also got Carson's school pictures back to day. They are cute-especially for school photos. Let me know if you want to see the proofs and I will email you the link.
It is a dreary day here. We really need the rain so I am not complaining. (An article in the paper Sunday said Atlanta has 80 days of water left in Lake Lanier) Carson did not have school so he is watching a movie on the couch. I am hoping he will nap. Macie slept about 30 minutes twice today. She is up in her bed fighting a 3rd nap. Any suggestions on getting her to take good long refreshing naps? Remember I have to be in the car from 9:15-9:45 and 1:15-1:45, 3 times a week. I think Mitzi and I are setting a car pool schedule so I might be able to eliminate the drop off time. Maybe that will help.

Pumpkin treats

I have always loved pumpkin pie. I love the holidays because my family always had pumpkin pie. I remember one time when I was in high school I think, my mom had a pie cooling on the counter in our kitchen. My cat, Daisy, climbed up there and took a nice bite out of the middle. She was a great cat for kids, but she could get into some trouble. Maybe one day I will try to find a picture to scan of Daisy. I had her from the summer before 1st grade (5 years old) until my sophomore year in college (19 years old).
Back to pumpkin talk! A few years ago, I discovered that a bagel shop around here has pumpkin cream cheese and bagels in the fall. I can not really taste it in the bagels, but I love the cream cheese. Since I only have 2 weeks left to get to my weight watchers goal, I have not had one this year. I will be there soon though. I will just plan to have veggies for a meal to make up for the large amount of cream cheese I will eat. Sunday, I discovered another pumpkin treat. Statbucks has pumpkin drinks this month. I don't know how long they are around, but I highly recommend you try one! I had the fat free latte without whip cream and it was incredible. I am sure it is even better if you get it with the really fattening stuff. There is also an ice cream shop in town that has pumpkin ice cream this time of year. Jeff likes it a lot, but it isn't my favorite. I noticed as I drove by the other day they have milkshakes too. I might try one before they are gone, but again, I would have to balance my points!
Basically, even without the holidays, I could find a few extra pounds in the fall. I just went to the Starbucks website and looked up the calories for the pumpkin lattes and frappuccinos. My best bet is the light frappuccino. It has 1/3 of the WW points as a regular!

Average girl

Macie had her 9 month appointment this afternoon. She was nice and smiled at all the nurses until she got her first flu shot. Her ear infection has healed, but she has a yeast diaper rash so she will have to have prescription cream. She is growing well and is about average in all categories. Her height is 28 inches (50-75 %). She gained exactly 2 pounds in 3 months for a weight of 17.09 (25-50%). I am not sure if this means 9 ounces or .09 pounds. I think it is 9 ounces. Her head is 43 3/4 cm (25-50%) (I just concerted this to compare Macie to her 4 month old friend Bryce-it is 17.2 inches) She is doing well developmentally too. We go back after Thanksgiving for the 2nd flu shot, but hopefully we will not have to go again until she is 1.

She eats everything

We have been saying for months how Macie puts everything in her mouth. I have seen dirt, grass, bark, rocks, cat food and lots of other stuff. Usually I am able to fish it out of her mouth with little harm done. Today, we discovered that she at some point had a pink paper clip in her mouth. I must have missed this one! You can use your imagination for how we discovered she had eaten it.