highlights from fall festival

As a rule, I try not to tell Christian that much of anything is happening ahead of time because he will pester the snot out of me until whatever that is happens.  As such, he didn't know that fall festival at his preschool was today until after breakfast when I told him to get his costume on.

Multiple times he asks with great anticipation, "is it Hallowing?"

Once Audrey realizes Christian is dressing up, she also wants to know if she can wear her "costune."

The excitement was so much for the two of them!

Christian asked me if I was staying at school with him and when Audrey hears that the answer to that is yes, she just repeats, "me? me?" until I assure her that yes, in fact, she is going to school today too.

She thinks she's grown.  She just goes right in and gets a seat at the table like she knows what she's doing!

 And yes, I realize this story would be better with pictures...I'll try to get some from the other two costume events we have. :)

Here's a little tip.  When you see children dressed up for Halloween, do not look at them (however sweet your tone) and say, "what are you supposed to be?" since that does not sound nice in any way.  If you don't know what it is, maybe go with, "who are you today?" or "wow, look at you!" 

Christian asked months ago to be Jake (for those of you who don't regularly watch Disney Junior, this is Jake of Jake and the Neverland Pirates).  It's a really easy costume, so we just made it...and for a minute today I felt a little sad for him.  Since he didn't have an easily identifiable costume, some of the people around him did not appear to be impressed.  

Not awesome.  Hello, he's 4.  Maybe you could just pretend that you think he looks fantastic since he is so obviously excited about it!

Pardon my high horse.

The best part of today was a moment that probably no one else thought anything about.  When they were in the classroom between crafts and snack, the teacher is explaining that snacks come next.  She tells them that if they have a parent there today that is who will fix their plates, and if not a teacher will do it.  

Christian shoots his arm straight up in the air and says, "I have a Mama!" and points to me with a smile on his face and light in his eyes.  Sold.  I'm done.  It didn't matter that everything else wasn't so awesome about this particular fall festival.  I'm his mom and he's proud of that!  What more could I possibly ask?

we're a wordy bunch

I think that a person's vocabulary is relatively important.


I shudder when I hear adults say things like "irregardless"  or "ex-specially" since in point of fact, those are NOT words.  
Just by being raised in the south, and perhaps by my family in particular I definitely do not pronounce everything correctly all the time...
I know for certain that more than once when I was teaching, I taught that ten and tin were homophones.  It don't think it was until I married Chris that I understood or cared they they should not be pronounced as the same word.  I came to understand that an accent can be cute or it can just make you sound ignorant.
I tried to train students (and their parents when necessary) not to say "lieberry" or  "balentine's day."  

Without hesitation I can tell you that my 4-year-old talks more than any child I have ever met.  
When I took my 2-year-old to her most recent well visit, the doctor asked if she had at least fifty words.  I laughed.  
Chris and I talk a lot, so I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that the kids are doing their best to keep up with us.

I feel like I live in the land of a thousand questions.  When we're leaving, they want to know where we're going.  When we're out, they want to know what they can do when we get home.  
Yesterday Christian asked if they could color when we got home.  When I told him was wasn't even going to answer that question he says, "we'll discuss that when we get home." After which, I tried not to run off the road.

I hate to hear adults use incorrect words.  I am embarrassed if I use the wrong word, so I do try to correct my own children when they mess up their words.  


After all this ranting, there is just one exception.
There is a Publix just down from our house.  Each and every time Christian says the name of this store, he says Puglitz and I just can't bring myself to correct it. :)

a warm october afternoon

In the backyard again this afternoon...

Apparently the fact that we put socks and shoes on Audrey's feet just prior to going outside did not send a clear message that they were actually to stay on.

Christian came quickly to report that "she took her shoes and socks off in the dirt!"

She didn't see the problem.  That girl!

I asked her where her socks and shoes were...

she brings them to me.

"He go, Mama."

The boy was intent on raking leaves today.  He seemed to be hard at work.  I discovered that this was for the sole purpose of jumping into them.

Today I wonder how and when he got so tall?  

My, how things have changed in such a short time.

 

jamming it up

After my farmer's market bounty from a couple of weeks ago (and then another trip after that), I have been jamming it up.  I have made lots of strawberry, peach, and plum preserves.  Even though I have gotten some good reviews from the preserves and jams from this season so far, I must say I was already a tad bored.   I love it that there's no end to preserving!
I wanted to use all my fruit, but I needed some new recipes.


As a result of the little guy at the farmer's market who sold me an entire flat of blackberries for $3 (if you can even believe that), I had to find something to do with them.  I don't so much dig on the seediness of blackberries, so I was trying to avoid just making blackberry jam.  I did quite a few batches of the strawberry jam that my husband is SO fond of, and since that recipe worked so well I used that as my base.  I tried at great length to find that recipe on the Food Network website, to no avail.  I went back and looked at my June 2011 Food Network magazine and found that this one actually from the Ball website and can be found here.  It calls for lemon juice, and although I've made it with that and with vanilla we like it best with neither of those add-ons.  


For my "black strawberry" concoction, I used that same strawberry recipe, but I cut the amount of the strawberries in half and used half blackberries.

It turned out great!  Or, I think it did anyway. :)


I had used all my strawberries, but still had a few blackberries and tons of plums.  
One of the nice things about making jams and such is that you can generally search the internet and find a recipe to suit whatever fruit you have on hand.  I searched and found a recipe for blackberry plum jam.  It is awesome!  If you don't so much care for super sweet jams, this may be the one for you.  It's really tart and delicious!  I love it when a recipe works out well on the first try!  The only thing I did different than called for was to use 4 ounces of blackberries instead of 8 just because that's what I had.  I made up the other 4 ounces in plums instead.  

My husband told me this week that I need to have some Kelli's Jellies business cards made. 


He tells me my title should be Baller Jammer.


That guy cracks me up...sometimes. :)

confession

Normally I get a lot done in any given day.  I've said before that being a homemaker and stay-at-home mom is very time consuming...


To ease my guilt I will say that I did make a batch of peach preserves this morning.  I also did two loads of laundry and managed to take care of my children today, but other than that I was pretty worthless!


I am a hard core serious General Hospital watcher.  
Today I managed to catch up on the seven episodes I had on my DVR.


I figure I have the rest of the week to make up for today's lack of productivity. :)

barbie shoes

I distinctly remember an episode from my childhood that had to do with some Barbie shoes.  
My memories are from a child's perspective, so I'm sure my mother's telling of this story would be a tad different. :)  I remember that one day she told my sister and me (in a very loud tone) that if she stepped on one more Barbie shoe, that was it!  All of them would be gone...
It didn't seem like much time had passed until there was nary a Barbie or accessory to be found anywhere in the Harrison household.

For her birthday, this little turkey received multiple little babies with little tiny shoes.  I almost hate to admit it, but I am the very one who created this problem!  
Both of the kids have been watching Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue, and so I thought that little fairies would really go over well with Audrey (and Christian too for that matter).
They love them!
The problem is that these little tiny babies have little tiny shoes...

Thanks to the insight of my mother-in-law, we have just super glued those tiny shoes onto those tiny feet!
Problem solved!  
I couldn't help but think of my mom and the Barbie shoe incident.  
Hopefully I have saved these from that same fate.


As my dad would say, "ain't life funny?"