Playing on the playground

Every time we go to see how our new house is coming along, Brian and Sean (without fail, I might add) ask as we enter and as we exit the neighborhood if we can play on the playground. For a long time I told them that it wasn't quite ready to be played on - actually I wasn't sure if we were allowed to play on it!

Finally, I broke down. We trundled out of the car and hit the equipment running! The boys had a ball, I wasn't stressed out about being at a large playground and keeping my eye on them (there are only 2 other houses occupied in the neighborhood right now!) and they got to run some of the crazies off. (There's a discussion going on over at the 4 Real Boards about boys and inside rowdiness right now.) Now, we make it a point to try and stop for some playing time whenever we go over to the new neighborhood.

It's really not as bad as it looks

I don't know if this video will show up, but I'll give it a whirl. This is Colin at the end of Week 2 of his Safe Start program. Now that he has begun to float on his back on his own, Ms. Carmen is rolling him so that he will learn how to go from face down in the water to floating on his back. An important life saving skill since I prefer him breathing air to water!

Counters, Spindles and Potties, Oh my!

More and more, our house is beginning to take shape. I went back by today to re-measure the windows (you know, measure twice, cut once!) and took a few more pictures of the inside. We have the kitchen all hooked up (and no, the counters are not really blue - it's just a protective film!)...
the spindles on the staircase are finally painted...
and of course, no new house picture collection is complete without a picture of at least one of the new potties!Everything is coming together and I'm starting to feel like we aren't just on an extended vacation.

No, Colin is not in a construction zone!

But boy, does the tile at my parent's house look an awful lot like the tile that's
in our new house! [theirs is bigger though;-)]

Scenes from the front door.

Looking from the front door to the living/dining room. That hallway in the
back leads to the kitchen. The alcove back there is the laundry closet.

Standing by my "stove" looking across the kitchen into the family room.
The door leads to Chris' office.

Everything is starting to come together. I went into the house today to measure the windows to start pricing out window treatments (yikes!). While I was there, the plumber and electrician were working hard putting in all of the appliances, light fixtures, air conditioning units (yes, we have dual zones, baby!), toilets, sinks, etc. All of the cabinets and counter tops are installed in the kitchen. I met the construction supervisor today and he assured me that he should have our house complete and to settlement by the third week in December at the latest!!!! Alleluia! Less than a month to go and we can start settling back into some sense of normalcy. I can't wait. Check back to see the latest and greatest updates on our home sweet home.

What would you do?

Since I'm not feeling very creative as of late, and my posts have been a little light, I thought I would get my juices flowing by visiting The Daily Meme. They tout themselves as "an easy spot to find a meme to blog about". And they're right. When I'm feeling less than motivated, I pop on over and can usually find something to kick start my brain. I will warn you that there is at least one "naughty" meme site that's linked on here; you can tell what it is from the description, and I just avoid it altogether so for me, no harm, no foul. Now on with the meme!

What would you do first if you were given $1000 and the day off of work?

Now, there are 2 ways that I would approach this - the responsible way, and the totally frivolous.

Responsible Cindy says:

I would take a small portion of the money and go to a book store and buy 3 or 4 good books. Then I would take the day and go to the beach, the park, a coffee shop and just lounge around and read all day. No interruptions, just pure unadulterated bliss for me being curled up with a book that just grabs my attention and doesn't let it go. What would I do with the rest of the money you ask? Well, I would put it in the "house" fund to go towards getting our new house put together.

Frivolous Cindy says:

I would run to the nearest spa and spend the day there being pampered from head to toe. I would get an Imperial Signature spa manicure/pedicure (with intense Callus treatment - more than you wanted to know I'm sure), an Imperial Signature facial (including a collagen eye treatment for those tired, puffy eyes!), a Chocolate Mousse body wrap, and an Executive Hot Stone massage. And with the leftover money (which surprisingly I would have almost $200 leftover even after tipping!) I would take my honey out to a really nice dinner - just the two of us - to a place where they don't serve chicken and french fries!

Some Kids Know Their A-B-Cs

Mine know that and the names of all of the restaurants!

"Mommy, there's McDonalds!"
"Mommy, there's Burger Kingdom!"
"Mommy, there's Perkins!"
"Mommy, there's Unos!"
"Mommy, there's Dunkin' Donuts!"
"Mommy, there's Starbucks!"
"Mommy, there's Sonic!"
"Mommy, there's Cracker Barrel!"

(Can you tell we ate out a lot when we first moved down here?)

I'm up to my elbows in...

Well, let's just say that I'm waiting for someone to peepee on me to make it a bodily fluids trifecta sort of day!

This not having a washing machine/dryer thing is really getting old especially since I now have LOTS of laundry to do!

Preparing to Prepare

Make sure to visit Susan over at Aspiring Homemaker. She is hosting the Loveliness of Preparing to Prepare Fair. I wish I had something to contribute, but living in a temporary home without access to all of our stuff leaves me a little short-handed when it comes to bringing out all of our Christmas/Advent items. This year I will have the boys make an advent wreath with me, and we have an advent calendar that I made at a MOPS meeting last month. We will also talk about what this season means and what we are getting ready for - the most wonderful birthday of all.

Yum, yum, yumminess

I have to commend Devin over at Speak of the Splendor. For a teenager, she seems to be very articulate and grown-up. And she's got a great recipe. I mentioned in my Loveliness of Pies Fair that her contribution was a Crustless Cranberry Pie. I baked one up last night to serve for breakfast this morning - and WOW - the reaction I received from every member of my family was how great it was. My grandmother even mentioned I should take this and sell it. So thanks, Devin! I give your Crustless Cranberry Pie a double thumbs up!

Funny Things Little People Say

Brian: "Daddy, your breath is stinky!
Daddy: "Well, I just smoked a cigar..."
Brian: "No, Daddy, your breath smells like a skunk"
Brian: "Daddy, I think a skunk came and sprayed in your mouth!"

(are we proud of the fact that he knows that skunks spray their stink, or embarrassed about our breath?)

Sean: (YAWN)
Mommy: "Sean, are you sleepy?"
Sean: "Yes, I'm sleepy in my mouth."

Elfmania

We've been elfed!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving - still in my food coma!

Thanksgiving Preview

Some of the things I am thankful for...



Bestest Buddies getting ready for family pictures. Oh, and Dylan says he wants to be a girl so that Brian can be his boyfriend!




Sean fishing with his "godfaddah"


And then there's just my sweetie pie boy.

We will be enjoying spending time with our family for the rest of the week.

Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

Loveliness of Pies

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I am pleased to host the Loveliness of Pies Fair. I'm thinking that many people are so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving that they were just waiting to see what kind of entries they would see here to give them some ideas for their own menus. Well I had a few entries that I think would make a lovely addition to your Thanksgiving dinner or for anytime during the year. We span everything from sweet to savory, flaky crust to crustless, teenage entries to, well let's just say some of us are a smidge older than teenagers ;-)!

So without further ado - I present the pies!

For the past 13 years, my husband Chris has hosted a Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner on the weekend before Thanksgiving. He began this tradition for his friends before everyone headed their separate ways to spend the holiday with their own families. What started as a turkey breast and 4 friends morphed over the years into a full scale dinner for up to 18 people. One of the featured items on the menu is Chris' cherry pie.The key to Chris' cherry pie you ask, is using Pillsbury Pie Crust. It really is a wonderful product and takes much less time than rolling out a pie crust from scratch. And darn if it doesn't taste wonderful and flaky just like homemade! He also uses Comstock Cherry Pie filling - one cherry, one light cherry. Chris has found that using 2 cans of cherries really fills the pie out.

After meeting me and beginning to come to my parents' home for Thanksgiving, he has become the family pie maker. When there was talk of there not being a cherry pie this year at Thanksgiving, my dad actually got upset - no fear dad, cherry pie will be gracing your plate again this year.

Fe from Australia, wins the prize for sharing the most pie recipes! We have 3 yummy sounding pie entries from her blog, The Genial Hearth.

Having her own mulberry tree enabled Fe to make a Mulberry Pie. She had to work hard to keep her toddler from picking the mulberries so she would have enough for the pie - good job, because it looks delicious.

Next we have a Raspberry Cream Pie. Fe says that the "cream" part makes it sound a little strange, but it was really tasty. Now, I'm a big fan of the raspberry so I just can't wait to try this one out!

Finally, we have an Apple Pie that she can't even get a picture of because it smells so good it's gone before anyone can get the camera out! It contains sultanas, which I've never even heard of, but am looking forward to trying them.

And going along with the Apple Pie theme, Katherine over at The Organic Kitchen shares the recipe that her daughter Sophia used to make her Letter A Pie - she really took "A is for Apple" to a new level - just love the look of this pie. And it's educational to boot!

And let's not forget the cranberry at Thanksgiving - it's not just for sauce anymore! Devin offers us her Crustless Cranberry Pie. She even gives suggestions for how to make slight changes to the recipe and what works and doesn't for substitutions. This would also be great as a brunch item. I'm thinking about trying this out for my extended family this holiday week.

And finally, pie isn't just for dessert as Mary shares with us. Fall is a wonderful time to eat pie, steaming hot from the oven, and to have it for dinner, well that's all the better. Mary and her family made a darling Scarecrow Chicken Pot Pie. I can't even tell you how cute it came out, you will just have to check it out for yourselves.

So in a pie shell, that's our Fair. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm really looking forward to adding some new and tasty treats to our family's recipes. Thank you all for sharing your kitchens with us. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are you?

Okay, this is interesting - especially given that I really don't like pumpkin pie!

You Are Pumpkin Pie

Even when people are full - they make room for you. Good or bad, your smell is most likely to arouse a man.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Welcome Kelsey Summer

Four years ago, my sister Lori married her long time boyfriend Lou. They were married by a wonderful Methodist minister named Pastor Dale. Pastor Dale was instrumental in getting my sister to come back to God. He just has a magnetic personality and a true gift for preaching.Fast forward from October 11, 2003 to November 19, 2007. This was the day Pastor Dale had the honor of baptizing my niece, Kelsey Summer. My brother Michael and his family came down from VA along with our sister Kellie, home from college, to attend the ceremony. The whole family gathered at the front of the congregation to welcome Kelsey. Pastor Dale made sure that he included Kelsey's entire extended family in her ceremony, which really made the ceremony special.
Kelsey did such a great job - she was not fazed at all by the large group of people all watching her every move. She didn't even let out a peep when Pastor Dale baptized her with water and prayed over he.
It was a beautiful day for a beautiful girl. We love you Kelsey - Welcome!

Last call...

for your pie entries for the Loveliness of Pie Fair. I'm extending the entry date until tomorrow - Monday - so make sure you get me your entries.

My latest mental obsession

I never understood why people loved playing Sudoku. I would look at the puzzle and my eyes used to glaze over at the numbers (as you can gather, I'm not the numbers person in our family).

And then I took a stab at it. I am now completely hooked! I love using logic to figure out the puzzle and feel a great sense of accomplishment when I complete them. I justify my current obsession by the fact that I'm stimulating my brain. I don't know if I need to be stimulating my brain at 2 a.m., but that's a whole other post ;-)

Safe Start

With the move to Florida, we are taking water safety much more seriously. Brian and Sean are taking swimming lessons, and we have enrolled Colin in a program called Safe Start. The premise of the program is to teach children as young as 10 months to be able to turn from being face down in the water and get themselves into a comfortable back float position. The child starts the 6 week program in bathing suits and learn the proper position for back floating. By the end of the program, the child knows how to float in street clothes as this is how most children are dressed when they fall into a pool or lake.

This isn't a program to teach Colin how to swim, but how to save his life should the unthinkable happen. We go to the pool Monday through Friday for 6 weeks. The lesson is only 10 minutes long, which doesn't sound like a lot of time until you are listening to your child cry for 10 straight minutes! We just completed our first week of the program and Colin is already getting very good at his back float. After Thanksgiving Ms. Carmen will turn him to his belly and teach him how to roll onto his back. I'm amazed I hadn't heard about this program or that more areas don't offer it. I feel so blessed that we are in an area where we can take advantage of this life-saving program.

Yikes!

As my good friend Elizabeth just let me know, there are only 44 more days until Christmas - so much to do, so little time!

Loveliness of Pies

Calling all pies! I'm hosting the Loveliness of Pies on my blog on November 19th - I know, I know, it's right around the corner, but so is Thanksgiving and it's time to get those pie pans out. Please leave me a comment on my blog with your entry by Sunday evening with a link to your post. Or if you don't have a blog please feel free to email me at cindy AT floridakellys DOT net and share with me some of your favorite recipes, pictures, memories of pie. Wish I could include smell-o-vision on this one!