Adventures in Mommyhood

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Three jade plants I started today... will probably end up as Christmas presents for the kids' teachers. Our Autumn Blaze Maple is more stunning than any year we've lived here.  A benefit of a dry fall, according to my husband. Our backyard.  Almost time to put the sandbox to bed for the year. The new window decorations Claire and I came up with for Autumn.  We're pretty handy with scissors, construction paper and scotch tape.

{this moment} {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  The wind was blowing, as it usually is around here, but in spite of this, it was a day worth getting out and doing something in.  I decided we'd go to the zoo as soon as we picked up Fisher from school.  I warned him about this possibility, as to set his expectations accordingly.  This is a very wise thing to do with my son- he does not like surprises.  I packed up water and an apple for each of the kids and we headed out on our trip. And...we had SUCH. A. GOOD. TIME. It was almost magical, really.  Usually when I plan outings such as this they are just O.K.  Mostly fun, but plenty of whining, a little fighting and always someone telling me how tired they are. There was NONE of that nonsense yesterday.  We were four of a handful of people at the zoo, there was not a cloud in the sky and the leaves shone bright against this backdrop.  The animals were feeling frisky in the delightful weather and we even got to help a vet "train" the goats

What more do I have to say... as soon as I read about this I knew it was something I had to try.  Crockpot Pumpkin Spice Lattes Ingredients 1/2 cup brewed espresso or3/4 cup strong coffee 2 cups milk (preferably 1 percent) 2 tablespoons canned puréed pumpkin 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or: 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon cloves, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, tiny pinch of ginger) 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons vanilla extract whipped cream (optional) Cooking Directions Use a 2-quart slow cooker. Add coffee/espresso and milk to the stoneware. Whisk in pumpkin, spices, sugar, and vanilla. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours. Whisk again. Ladle into mugs, and garnish with whipped cream and additional cinnamon. When you serve them, be sure to serve a spoon with each mug.  If you don't stir them every once and awhile, you will end up with too much pumpkin puree at the end.  I added a little more coffee than the recipe called for; I felt like the amount call

We went to a really fun pirate birthday party last month- Holland pranced around looking cute the whole night. Every year we go to the pumpkin patch, and every year I have refused to pay for the kids to ride the little red train around the orchard.  Until this year.  And it was worth every dollar to see the kids enjoy it.  Holland waved and said "Hi." to everone she passed. We've been playing in the leaves!  Our Ash tree dumped on us this week and we are still surounded by dozens of trees that haven't yet to drop their leaves or even start to turn colors yet!  We're going to have a lot of fun in the leaves this fall!