roller coasters and bowling balls

Every now and again we are lucky enough to stumble upon a weekend that is jammed pack with fun things to do. I welcome these kinds of weekends with open arms after long weeks of not a whole lot to do. It's safe to say I could get a job, hobby, life, etc. So this past weekend was so packed we had to forgo some events. And that just makes me sad! I think it only makes sense to stretch the weekend out about two more days and shorten up the boring, snooze fest work week. Who's with me? If I had a lot of readers, I know I'd have an audience in agreement.

Of course now, I must tell you about our weekend. It started with a fun, impromptu trip to Six Flags. See, I never win anything. Or I should say, I never win money. It seems when I do win something, it's of complete randomness. For example, when I was a kid, I won a bike at K-Mart. I was shopping with my mom, and I signed up in some holiday sweepstakes to win a fresh, beautiful poinsettia. (Even at a young age, Christmas decor was important to me). The humor in the story is that I ended up winning the grand prize, which was a bike, and found myself a little disappointed I didn't get the poinsettia. I already had a new bike from the previous year, that was an awesome neon pink WITH an AM/FM radio on it! I ended up giving the bike I won to my older sister. I know, a selfless act. A coerced, selfless act. Fast forward to this year, when I won a year supply of Nestle Pure Life water bottles. Honestly, I can't be clear how I won that contest, but randomness at it's finest. I won water. Woo hoo! But I must say, winning Six Flags tickets through a Facebook contest, although random, was pretty cool. Especially when I researched that Cara's height was suitable for riding some of their roller coasters. So we used the tickets this past weekend, since they were about to expire and had a fabulous time! Courtney joined us, which was awesome since Chris had someone to ride the big roller coasters with (and not peer pressure me).

Chris got on this ride called the Acrophobia that soars to 200 feet in the air and then drops you. With little warning, drops you. Scariest. ride. ever.

Finally, I had to take a picture of one of the roller coasters Cara rode. Most of the rides they have weave in and out of trees so you don't see the true size of them from a distance. The Georgia Scream Machine however stands out plain as day. I have no clue how Chris got her on this thing, but she was all smiles after!

Another thing worth noting from our busy weekend, was Cara's first birthday party through a school friend. We've been to a few birthday parties through our friends and their kids, but this was Cara's first birthday party through a friend from her class. It was at the bowling alley. There was music, food, dancing, bowling, cake and games. Every kids dream come true! Cara was a little shy, but I want to keep encouraging her to be comfortable with the kids from her class. I think it will help with her feeling comfortable at school and not giving me alligator tears every morning. It can't hurt right! Here are a couple blurry pictures with her and her friends Joslyn and Allie.

Lunchtime Fun

Keeping lunchtime fun with banana dogs topped with pb&j.

I'm a mom

I want to remember really quick how I felt today, when I read a story about a family that touched my heart. A little boy who is sick and is going to pass away and his parents who are trying to continue living with their hearts broken in half. I want to always remember how sad I have felt for them, and anyone who loses a child. And I want to remember how incredibly blessed and grateful I am for my two children and being their mom. Some days, those simple facts get lost in the hustle and bustle of life and they shouldn't. I'm a mom. I'm an incredibly fortunate, lucky mom.

To more light hearted topics! I haven't yet posted on Cara's adventures with her class pet Ellie the elephant. We had him over Labor Day weekend, and with not a whole lot planned, we made the most of it. We took her for a ride in Chris' new jeep, went out for frozen yogurt, visited with Christina and Matty and played at Chik Fil A, took a nature walk where we saw a deer, visited with Aunt Stephy at Mimi's house and went to the park, and we even rolled out the slip and slide for some water fun. I think I may have been more excited about having Ellie visit, but Cara seemed to really enjoy the idea. It was like having a weekend guest over! My favorite part being that Ellie didn't make a single mess!

At the end of last week, I treated Cara to an ice cream float after school, just me and her. I don't want her to feel like she's losing time with me, so I'm making it a point to create alone time together. We visited Miss L's Sandwhich Shop and Cara ordered the root beer float with chocolate ice cream. They told us they've never had anyone order it with chocolate ice cream and asked us if it was okay if they named the float after her. So Miss L's Sandwhich Shop now carries the Cara Float although no one but Cara will probably ever order it!

We had a little family craft night this past weekend and made homemade play dough. It was a first for Cara, Sam and I and turned out to be a lot of fun! As a person who works often with flour, oil and water, I was pretty taken aback by how quickly heat turned gloop into a big glump of play dough. We also added kool aid for its pinkish color and strawberry scent and glitter for, well, for glittery glam! The girls thought it was equally as exciting and we have some big plans for some fall play dough recipes. I see pumpkin play dough in our very near future!

{in the kitchen with Sam} Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Remember the movie about Julia Child? Julie and Julia? I personally wasn't all that interested in the plot or actors when it came out, but I remember it getting a lot of attention. So I happen to flip it on this week, during my post root canal laziness, and kind of fell in love with Julia Child! Don't worry, I am not going to cook my way through "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and blog about it. I just loved Julia's passion for food and how she made a name for herself in the world of chefs, starting at the late age of 30! It is very inspiring for a 29 year old woman, who hasn't quite found a passion that sticks. So, between the inspiration of a culinary driven film and wanting to will Fall into the streets of Acworth, I decided to cook up some Pumpkin Snickerdoodles. And I recruited my very best side kick, Sammy. Also keeping in line with Cara's themes at school, which was "shapes", we chose to highlight the circle. When it works, it works.

The Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon


The Sous Chef:

No this is not deja vous...Sam likes to wear the same dress...a lot.

First, we mixed up the dry ingredients. This is the step I feel most confident in my 2 year olds assistance. A nice deeeeep bowl + a very smallll whisk = minimal damage.

One thing you learn as you bake more, is most every recipe involving butter and sugar is going to want you to cream these two things together. One thing you learn as a person with OCD, finding the right amount of time to microwave butter and achieve optimal softness can be a challenge.

Sam added the egg to the butter-sugar mix. This was very exciting for her. What was exciting for me was putting the ingredients in their own special, little bowls. It made me feel like I was on a cooking show. After the egg, we blended in the pumpkin. And let me tell you, Mr. pumpkin puree has been welcomed back with open arms! There's something about the smell of pumpkin!

That tiny hand belongs to Sam. Round of applause for the 2 year old who has overcome her fear of the mixer! Lastly we mixed in the dry ingredients. This is where the fun part came. Recipes always sound so optimistic. Like, just roll them up into 1 1/2 inch balls and cover in a cinnamon-sugar mixture. My version would be: good luck rolling dough that seems to be having a love affair with your palm. Also, have fun measuring 1 1/2 inch balls. How about, get them in the size range of a golf ball and doughnut hole and throw into the cinnamon-sugar mix before they turn into hand moisturizer. At least once they swim in there you can shape them up a bit. Sam watched as I attempted three batches of this (and this was after chilling the dough) in amusement. Her only comments were "your hands are messy" and "you need to wash your hands". We did it though! We made balls!

And those mushy balls became beautiful cinnamon-sugar coated pumpkin filled cookies!

And of course it wouldn't be blog worthy without the "Sam" of approval!

In the words of the great Julia Child, bon appetit!

acts of kindess

As we start a new week of school with Cara, I have made it a point to do more activities at home with Sam. Cara has her days full of crafts, stories and learning, I figured it's only fair I do the same with Sam. Each week at school, Cara's class has a theme. It started with All About Me where they practiced writing their names and talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. (side note: Cara said she wanted to be a Doctor and her favorite food was tacos. I'm okay with both of those things!) Last week was My Family, to which Cara revealed she had 3 people in her family (wonder who got the boot) and made a family tree with all of our pictures. This week is Community Service. I'm loving the theme of this week, so much that Sam and I are going to have a nice little community service Monday.

We entitled today "Acts of Kindness Monday". We decided to make home made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and give them out to Cara's new teachers and Chris' work. What's a better way to show kindness than with chocolate. I cataloged the entire baking session with pictures and will add the recipe for memory's sake because these bad boys were delicious. Enjoy!

We started by organizing all of our ingredients and materials on the counter. And of course got super cute with a chic apron. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 3/4 cups of old fashioned rolled oats, and LOTS of chocolate chips. Okay, the recipe said 1 1/4 cups, but we made a slight modification and added some more.

First step was to mix up the flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Sam had her own mini whisk to help with this step.

Then we creamed the butter and sugars together with a mixer. Sam wasn't too big a fan of the mixer so she waited until I blended in the egg and vanilla to help me dump in the flour mixture. After the flour was mixed evenly in the buttery sugary goodness, we folded in the oatmeal and chocolate chips.

We put the mixture in the fridge to cool while we let the oven preheat and snapped a little photo of ourselves baking together.

The oven was hot and the dough was ready to be spooned onto the prepared pans.

They baked at 350 F for approximately 11 minutes and voila! We have yummy, lightly browned homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

We couldn't possibly consider posting this recipe on our blog until we officially tested and approved the cookie...

Once I had the "Sam of approval", we wrapped them up in bags and they are ready to be delivered!

this will probably only happen once...

...I have pre assembled, ironed and styled (with bows and headbands) five outfits for Cara's second week of school, to save time and argument over the dreaded "can I wear a dress today?" question. Again, this will probably only happen once.

And of course, Sammy wanted the same treatment.

Cincinnati and Pre K

Summer is ending, and I welcome Fall with open arms in anticipation for cooler weather! This summer has been particularly challenging with the impending arrival of Cara's first year of school. I have spent almost 4 years at home with Cara; our days filled with whatever we wanted to do, no where to really be, and lot of time spent in our pj's. The idea of her being gone each day has left me feeling a little gloomy. Being a parent and rearing children, we want them to grow and have new and wonderful experiences, and I knew it was inevitable. I've been told from the minute I had babies "enjoy them, because they grow up too fast". When I first heard that, Cara was a mere month in age and sleeping was a luxury, so the word "fast" wasn't something I was familiar with. But as I watched her sit down at a big kid desk for her first day of Pre K, I had the urge to pass that advice on. Here my little one month old baby was starting school, and with the memories of infancy fresh, I can agree that she grew up too fast.

The weekend before school started, we headed to Cincinnati for a wonderful family reunion and wedding of my second cousin. It took place at my Great Aunt Carol's house and was beautiful. My Grandma and her siblings are located on the perfect plot of land! So much green everywhere. The kids loved running around and Megan captured a pretty classic picture of all the great grand babies for my Grandma.

Megan also got a generation photo that I love:

It was a great trip, jam packed with all my favorite Sammons'! We came back Sunday and Monday was Cara's first day. Chris was out of town for work, so I was dreading doing the drop off alone. We tested the waters last year with a once a week drop off of four hours, to which Cara cried most every time so I kind of assumed this drop off was going to go similar, but with myself crying as well. We started the morning at McDonald's for a healthy breakfast. I had this plan to make a big french toast casserole, but didn't see the point for just the girls and me. I knew Cara would love McDonald's, so wanted to keep the morale high.

We had a very welcomed surprise of my Mom, Val, Cali and Lucas joining us for breakfast. They came to cheer up Cara and get her pumped about school. Their presence cheered us all up! After breakfast, I drove Cara over. I tried to snap a few last pictures before I knew her smile might be a frown. She wore a sweet little dress I had made and appeared calm and collected. I was so proud of her bravery.

The drop off went pretty much as I planned. We looked around. We hugged. She got a little teary eyed, we calmed her down. And then I went outside and boo who'd my brains out! I've always heard people talk about the first day of school and how they cried, and I envisioned myself jumping up and down, waving goodbye, yelling "woo hoo, freadom!", but in reality, I was sad. She grew up too fast.

With all that said, she had a great first week. Made new friends. Got a new haircut. Did her first show and tell. Touched her first snake. It was exciting. And honestly, this new chapter has become very exciting. I get to watch my child grow and learn and become apart of the world, in her own little way. Plus, I still get two more years to wears pj's with Sammy ;)