Hundred-Acre Wood

The warm sunny breezes from Tuesday have given way to a chillier, blustery sort of day.  This is the wind that makes the willows weep. This is a day that makes me feel like I'm in the Hundred-Acre Wood and that most of my plans for the day should be replaced with a cup of hot chai and a snuggle session with Oliver and a few good board books.  This is the time of year where most of the leaves have fallen and decor has shifted from ghosts saying "boo" to turkeys reminding us to "give thanks".  Soon thoughts will shift once more to garland strung on banisters, evergreen and hollyberry scented candles and peppermint flavored whipped cream on steaming cups of hot cocoa.

I've tried to plan better for Christmas this year.  Instead of jamming all of our shopping into one Saturday in December where good intentions turn into arguments fueled by frustration because there are still "five more people on our list and we're running out of time just pick something!!", I'm trying to spread out the shopping.  I've tried hard to listen, really listen, throughout this year in hopes that I can pick out the perfect gift instead of "just picking something".  Being at home has also given way to me getting my craft on and so a lot of my gifts this year will be handmade.  Not handmade by an elf in Santa's workshop with a wooden hammer but my me in my craft room/playroom/den/spare bedroom with my glue gun. Here is what I finished up today.  Who knows who it might be going to?! That person, who just might be reading right now, will just have to wait until Christmas! Exciting I know!!

I have a confession to make.  I broke a rule.  I have this set of rules that I live by, most corresponding to seasons and holidays.  Among these rules are watching You've Got Mail every fall, Family Man every Christmas, you have to have a jello cake decorated like the American flag every Fourth of July and so on and so forth. The rule that I broke is sacred to me, it's serious business.  Every fall I vow that I will not under any circumstance do it, but this year I did.  Last weekend I walked down the block in Chicago from my sister's apartment, I opened the door and was overcome by the nutty scent of roasted coffee, I walked up to the counter and I ordered a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha.

My rule is that I have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving before I start indulging in Christmasy coffee drinks.  I might as well have put up my Christmas tree in August and started listening to Christmas music in October.  But...it was worth every chocolatey minty sip.

Naps are for wimps...

This daylight savings business has got me and about a million other moms out there shaking their fists in the air and screaming "why, universe, why?!"  Add to that a trip across time zone lines and you've got a recipe for sleeping disaster.  Before we were even faced with adjusting to "falling back" we arrived in Chicago and went out to a nice dinner with my sister Edie.  At Adobo, a lovely little mexican restaurant with killer margaritas and even better guacamole prepared table side, we were faced with what we knew was coming eventually in our parenting lives. The clock has run out on bringing baby to a restaurant and both parents being able to eat a meal uninterrupted. It really wasn't as bad as it could have been, I didn't feel fellow diners boring holes in the back of my head but we did have to play a game of musical dining.  I would eat a few bites with Corey distracting Oliver, then he'd pass him on to me and get a few bites of his meal. So this is how it went for an hour.  A few hours later my other sisters, Desi and Kiley arrived.  Mind you Oliver has not slept at any point in the past 5 hours.  So of course the aunties had to get in their snuggle time and then I finally had to try and put him to sleep.  I will remind you that we were scheduled to run a 5K at 7:40 the next morning. The next six hours did not go well.  There was tossing and turning and crying, mostly from Oliver but a little crying from me too when I realized I was going to be lucky to get three hours of sleep before running.

So at 6:15 I peeled myself out of bed and gave myself a little pep talk and ran 3.1 miles.  Like I said in the last post I have only run about five times in the past year and am not blessed to be able to run 3.1 miles effortlessly.  So it was a pretty brutal run but I finished and it wasn't in last place. I'm not going to share my time with you because quite frankly it's a bit embarrassing.  A lot of people finished ahead of me but a lot of people finished behind me and that's fine by me.  It was a great course to run on and we all had a great time and we got chocolate fondue and Ghiradelli hot chocolate afterwards and I'll run 3.1 miles for that any day!

The rest of the weekend went way too fast and I found myself on so many occasions thinking about how grateful I am to have such great sisters and be lucky enough that they are all my best friends.  I wish that I could see them every weekend and spend our time window shopping and sharing waffles smeared with Nutella and laughing at stupid videos posted to You Tube.  As referenced above, restaurants with baby are a thing of the past so we stayed in on Saturday night and cooked together and enjoyed a fantastic meal that featured seasonal ingredients.  It was a meal almost entirely made up of recipes found on Pinterest.  You can find the recipes by following the links I've included.  Our meal was made up of a Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin, Butternut Squash Puree, Sweet Roasted Rosemary Acorn Squash Wedges and some amazing brussel sprouts that Edie's boyfriend Tyler made.  It was unanimous that the Butternut Squash Puree was a favorite but it was all fantastic and they will all definitely be added to my rotation of fall recipes.

It was such a great weekend with so many moments to add to the memory bank.  Including but not limited to...
A couples sing-a-long with my husband to calm a baby sick of being in the car.  Note: we perform a killer Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels on the Bus in case you were wondering.

Grocery shopping at Whole Foods Market.  I consider myself somewhat of a grocery snob.  I love myself a good grocery store and I wish that I could shop at a Whole Foods all the time.  Why wouldn't you want to shop amongst artfully marketed produce, artisan cheeses, gorgeous flowers and amazing desserts?

Making the most of a delayed race by compiling a list of things to keep us going while running when all we really want to do is walk. (To the the driver of the semi that got himself stuck under an overpass in downtown Chicago causing the race directors to divert the race route, you're kind of an idiot).

Each time I'm with my sisters we make memories that we'll be talking about for years to come.  Some of them are good memories and sometimes some not so good memories like our legendary blow-out sister fight the last time that we were home together before my mom got sick.  Even though we want to forget how disappointed my mom was in us for fighting we still remember it like it was yesterday.  We talked about that fight this weekend.  Growing up in a house with five girls there was no shortage of arguments over clothes, make-up, time in the bathroom or being looked at funny.  My mom was used to these arguments and her calm demeanor and level headedness always diffused the fights and within hours we were usually all back to being friends.  But this time her reaction to the fight was different.  I could tell that for days after she was still upset by it even though it wasn't any different than any other fight we'd ever had over the years.  Her disappointment was palpable even days later when I called to tell her I was sorry that we had fought.  Thinking back even though none of us knew she was sick, even her, I think in some way she did know that her days with us were numbered and that was why she was so disappointed that we spent them fighting.  Now when we are all together we don't fight as often, maybe because mom isn't here to fix it or maybe because we all know that our time together isn't infinite and so we need to make the best of each visit.  Regardless, after every trip to visit my sisters I'm always in a little bit of a funk for the next few days because I'm missing them terribly.  This time is no exception but I am comforted knowing that Thanksgiving is only 2 1/2 weeks away and we get to spend four days together.  We'll spend our time eating turkey and sweet potatoes, playing cards, talking about visits passed and making new memories.

Ghosties, Penguins, and Cops (Oh my!)

The pumpkins have been picked and the candy has been bought (twice if you must know) and Halloween is here!!  The fact that candy is one of my favorite things on the planet (see above comment) Halloween ranks right up there among my favorite holidays. I don't know if I just remember it differently 20 years later or if things really are different now. My Halloween memories consist of being pigeon-holed into a warm costume because it was always either raining, snowing or bitterly cold (all three if you were really lucky) and it was always pitch black out raising the spooky factor a good 50 percent.  Today trick or treating starts at 5:30 and ends at 8:00 so you really only get 30 to 45 minutes of spooky ambiance and the temperature is forecasted to be about 45 degrees with no rain, maybe those people talking about global warming are on to something?  Regardless of rain or shine it is still Oliver's first Halloween and that's pretty exciting. We had to pick out two costumes because when all the good stuff was in the store it was still about a month and a half away from Halloween and any one that has ever had a baby knows that a whole lot can change on the size front in a month and a half.  So we have the penguin (look at his cute little tail)...

and the policeman...

The mustache paci I saw on Pinterest and followed the link to an Etsy website where they were selling them for $15!!! I thought hogwash, I can make that, so with a bit of felt and my hot glue gun I did!  We'll see which costume fits tonight, either way pretty darn cute if you ask me.

I missed a post last week, sorry about that, we were really busy around here.  Grandpa and Grandma Rekers came for a visit.

We had all sorts of exciting things happening.  We had a Halloween party at the neighbor's house.  I made cake balls that looked like pumpkins and Nutter Butter Ghosties.

I've been making cake balls for several years but only since the cake pop revolution have I started putting them on sticks.  I'll give you my recipe for cake balls at the end of this post.  They can be time consuming but can be the perfect treat for any party from bridal showers to Christmas parties.  Make sure you eat a few after you make them because you more than likely won't get any at your party because they go really fast!

We're on hands and knees now people!

We haven't quite figured out how to put wheels in motion and move forward, but soon I think, very soon.  And then look out world and good-bye knick knacks on bottom shelves for you shall be packed away only to be re-introduced someday when danger has passed.

We're headed to Chicago again this weekend.  Daddy gets to come this time and all the aunties will be there with the exception of Karley.  We initially planned the trip so that we could run the Hot Chocolate 5K Run and it turned into a perfect weekend to reunite with friends and family.  We'll also be lucky enough to meet up with some of our dear friends that we met in Minnesota who now live north of Chicago so it looks like it's going to be a great weekend.  Oh wait, maybe not as great as planned, did I mention that I've run twice since I signed up for this race two months ago? In case you are wondering, no, I am not the type of runner than can pick up where I left off and run when I haven't run a race in months over a year. So if you need me this weekend I'll be laying in the middle of Grant Park trying to recuperate from the heart attack I am sure to have at about mile 1.


Cake Balls:
1 store bought cake mix
1/2 can store bought frosting (coordinating flavor, chocolate with chocolate cake mix, vanilla with vanilla etc.)
1 bag colored Wilton Candy Melts (you can find these at Michaels, Hobby Lobby and sometimes Wal-Mart)

Bake the cake according to directions on box and allow to partially cool.  When still warm break cake into about 6 pieces and put in large mixing bowl. Add half can of frosting.  Mix until all incorporated and sticky. This works best if you just use your hands, the heat from your hands and the warm cake melt the frosting.  Once it's the correct consistency (no cake crumblys left) roll into small balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  Place a lollipop stick (you can also find these at Michaels, Hobby Lobby etc) in each ball but not all the way through.  Place in freezer for about an hour. Once the balls have been frozen for an hour melt your Candy Melts according to directions on the bag.  Dip each ball in the melted goodness and lightly tap against bowl to shake off excess coating. Place back on wax paper or if you want perfectly shaped balls  stick the stick into a piece of Styrofoam and let coating harden.  These also freeze well so you can make them ahead of time and they only take about an hour to thaw.  Enjoy!!

Lazy Days in PJs

It finally happened, the little man is sick.  Almost six months cold and flu free...it was a good run.  It's nothing serious though, just a stuffy/runny nose and a little cough.  I can't say that I am always a huge proponent of technology in all facets of our lives but on this day I'm thankful for it.  This week I was able to summon the "old wives" through Facebook and get great advice on how to relieve my little one. Thank you to all that gave great suggestions on what has worked for you and your little ones.

Right on cue we were greeted with a rainy day, as if to say, "stay inside, stay in your jammies a while longer, errands and the grocery store can wait".

I recently read an article in Parents magazine about not only cherishing and remembering the big moments in our little one's lives like the first steps, first words and first birthdays but also paying closer attention to the little moments.  This week I've tried to take a closer look at those little moments.  These days Oliver seems to be learning something new everyday.  His little mind is constantly at work, neurons firing telling one another to throw that toy on the floor mom will pick it up, he's learning to reach out and pet the dog, and today he saw a tiny little raisin and reached out and picked it up. (Before you all panic and call Department of Human Services on me, I put the raisin on the floor on purpose to see if he could pick it up and took it away immediately as to not let my child choke.) And now he has his first cold.  Big or small, they are all great moments...

and these are the moments I want to remember. A hot cup of tea by my side, my little monkey, heavy with the scent of Vicks, snuggled into my fuzzy robe, his little breaths stuffy but eventually becoming even as he falls asleep.

This weekend we went out to the lake.  Days spent on the boat are numbered for the season. Soon it will be out of the water and tucked away in a storage unit for the winter.  So for now we try and get our time in. This is actually my favorite time of year to be on the boat. The wind is a bit chilly but refreshing and the trees surrounding the lake are making their changes from verdant green to oranges, golds and reds.  I won't bore you with another soliloquy about how much I love fall and all that it has to offer, just suffice it to say that fall makes everything better, including days on the boat.

He couldn't get enough of the Hawkeye wind sock.

Oliver is his father's son, he loves being on the boat.  He is mesmerized by the wake and the sound of the engine eventually lulls him to sleep.

Due to the mounds of Kleenexes piling up on side tables and in trash cans and the little one that won't really sleep unless he's being held, there is not really a tie in to any Pin this week.  Sorry.  Maybe next week I'll have two...maybe.

On a side note, to the CEO of Kleenex, I assume there is a hand written note in the mail thanking me for the sudden spike in sales in the Southern Indiana market.

Birthdays

My grandma turned 90 last week and we went back to Iowa for her birthday shindig. This was kind of a big deal.  Grandma has been talking about turning 90 since the day she turned 89.  In each conversation she would have she would manage to slip in an "I'm going to be 90 you know" no less than three times.  I'm pretty sure she was even bragging it up that she was going to turn 90 to all of her friends and family at her brother's 99th birthday party...yes I said 99th, I don't think grandma quite had the grasp of the irony of that. So to Iowa we went. Before we went to Grandma's party we took a trip to Carroll's Pumpkin Farm with my aunts, cousins and their kids. Growing up we went to the pumpkin farm every year and it was so fun to bring Ollie there for the first time.

 Big boy is sitting up on his own now.

So Saturday was the birthday party.  It was wonderful to catch up with family that we haven't seen in a while.  When we were kids we would go to my grandma and grandpa's house every Sunday for dinner.  Dinner being lunch, not supper. All of the grandkids would play outside while grandma and the aunts would finish up the roast or whatever was being prepared that day.  We would gather at the table and say the Lord's Prayer and then eat.  After the meal was cleaned up and the dishes were done we would move to the living room where the adults would sit while the kids passed around the crystal candy dishes that grandma had filled especially for this day.  My sisters and I would always fight about who got to pass around the candy dishes, there were two dishes and four of us. I hope that someday we can live closer to family so that my kids can see their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents every week.

We finally got a picture with all of us girls together.  For those of you that don't know my sister Karley (second from the left) she is Kiley's twin and has special needs.  She lives in a home with three other ladies in Adel, IA and is doing so great.  It had been about three months since I had seen her and even longer since she had seen some of my other sisters so she was ecstatic to see all of us, made quite evident by her shrieks of laughter upon seeing us.  She did the same when she saw Grandma, pretty sure that made Grandma's day.

Now it's always hard going back home and being with family because it is so piercingly evident that my mom is gone.  When I'm at home in Indiana I can go about my life, I still think of her everyday and I still want to pick up the phone and call her but I'm not reminded of her at every moment.  At home in Iowa is a constant reminder of her; going to the grocery store, visiting our favorite ice cream spot, seeing so much of her in the faces of her sisters.  Each trip home it gets a little bit easier but just when you think it's getting to be bearable the holidays are right around the corner.  The first Thanksgiving without her, the first Christmas morning waking up without her in the kitchen, making baked french toast and listening to Mannheim Steamroller. I want Oliver to have those memories with her and perhaps that is what makes me the saddest of all.  I know that my mom would have been such an awesome grandma and made such great memories with him.  She would be the grandma that would catch frogs with him, go on nature walks with him,  read books to him, bake him cookies, and teach him to skip rocks.  Ollie still has a couple awesome grandmas, Grandma Rosie and Grandma Stacey. They will have their own things that they will do with him and they will be so special.   There is also my aunt Fonda, who is already an awesome grandma and already treats Ollie like one of her own grandkids and for that I am so very grateful.

During Grandma's party an impromptu leaf fight broke out.  The woody scent of crispy leaves transported me back 17 years to our own giant leaf pile.  But alas there was no tire swing to jump off of into the pile so they had to make their own leaf magic.

Grandma wasn't the only one that had a birthday this week.

Who else had a birthday you ask?

Aunt Edie that's who! She turned 26.

Ollie and I tacked on a trip to Chicago to visit Edie at the beginning and end of our trip to Iowa.  We saw her new apartment with this great view...

We went to the park...

We played a little...

We ate cupcakes and pizza, drank Autumn Blend coffee, we walked everywhere, it was lovely.

And this wouldn't be a blog post without a little craftiness sprinkled in so here is the wreath I made for my grandma's birthday. A styrofoam ring from the craft store, some yarn, a sprig of berries and some felt rosettes.

I hope she loves it.

So now rainy day activities beckon, coffee and a little cleaning.  Who am I kidding? Replace the cleaning with a whole lot of playing on the floor and reading books.  Happy Thursday all!