Why Addie doesn't go to bed

It's FALL!!!

Just a little post of rejoicing! Today, our outdoor thermometer has gone no higher than 75 degrees!!! After a long, hot Southern California summer, this is the week that puts everyone local in a goooooood mood.

Now, I am not so foolish to think that warm temperatures won't return. After all, it's only September. I do have to deal with the realities of where I live.

BUT, I will enjoy the cooler weather and partial clouds as much as possible while we have them. It is such a nice break! I get so impatient at the end of every season- anticipating whatever comes next, just for a change of pace. I become ridiculously optimistic about the next season and romanticize each climate change and holiday to come. So this weather change came at just the right time. For once, the weather changed here to match the retail campaigns that take us into the next four months. How rare. Normally we are wearing shorts while strolling through the aisles full of pumpkins and leaf garlands.

But thanks to this temperature dip, I have an irrational urge to spread colored leaves and pumpkins everywhere in sight. It makes me want to bake something involving apples and cook dinner in the oven (since I don't have to think about that making the house too warm). Addie and I are celebrating today by wearing PANTS instead of SHORTS. It's our own little way to say hooray.

Just wanted to share with all of you what made my day today.

Peek A Boo

Yes, Peek a Boo is still one of Addie's favorite pastimes. It was almost over ruled last week by itsy-bitsy-spider, and the week before by patty-cake, but it remains triumphantly on top. Here are more pictures from Erin, proving it.

Peek

A Boo




















I see...




















You!

Bathtime with Clayton

We got to spend the evening last week with our friends, the Kaneversky's, and Addie got to have her evening bath with their youngest, Clayton.

Clayton's mommy Erin takes GREAT pictures, so here are some she snapped and sent to me. Thanks Erin!

The Library

Our apartment might not be large, but we do have a library. Or a special reading room, whatever. Here's the proof.













Brooke and Grant were over for awhile yesterday and Brooke and I were in the kitchen when we noticed the kids in the livingroom had gotten very quiet. Any parent knows there's trouble in the silence. So we went looking and this is what we found. Both sitting in the bathroom with a book. We were cracking up.

That's My Little Biker Girl

Mommy was very proud to give Addie a ride on the bike.
This is a face of happiness, even though it looks like terror.

See? Having a blast.

Shopping!

Saturday, we went with the Kropfs to the outlet mall for a little shopping. Of course, at the end of the day, we realized that all we took pictures of were Grant & Addie. Oh well.

Here is Addie getting ready to go. We brought our walkie-talkies so we could talk car-to-car during the drive there. Boy, were we glad, since getting there was one big comedy of errors. Between misunderstandings, accidents blocking our path, and differing routes, a one hour drive took us two. Thankfully, everyone arrived with their sense of humor still intact.
Here's Grant having a fry at the food court.
Just a cute picture of Addie.
Here is Addie back home with her new toy set. She used the money from her last visit with Meemaw to buy a bunch of play food and she has spent many joyful hours playing with it already! Thanks Meemaw!

Re-Doing the Bedroom

Well, one of the activities that has kept us busy lately is re-doing our bedroom. We haven't posted about it yet, because we were wanting some dramatic before & after pictures to show you all, but it is still not ready for the "after" pictures. So we'll just show you so of the progress up to this point. Here is the bedroom "before."(I know, all you see is the canopy, but try to look past it).













So first, we bought a new duvet cover and some euro pillows so we can sit up in bed and read comfy now! We painted the milk glass lamps I inherited from my grandmother and switched them out with the old ones. You'll have to wait 'till later to see all of that.


We also bought a new bed. Well, new to us, but old (that is how I like most all of my furniture). Anyway, it took awhile to paint it- we painted it white so that the furniture in the bedroom would at least come CLOSE to matching. Here it is before.




We have also painted the accents on my dresser (in the background here) from red to light blue and bought a matching nightstand (they were mismatched before- you can seee them in the picture below) and painted it too.



Great story with the nightstand actually (bear with me on this tangent). We got Niki's night stand a few years ago at a yard sale and painted it white. Greg's was much bigger and we thought it would be great if we have matching nightstands, so I decided to start looking. I thought it would be a long time before I found one. That very Saturday I went out yard-saling and at the next to last sale, there it was. It needed some love, but the look was right. I asked (oh so nonchalantly) how much and the lady said "$5." I oh so calmly paid, took it to the car, and squeeled with delight for the rest of the day. Incidently, Greg spent the rest of the day painting it, so he wasn't really squeeling with delight.





We are getting close to finally being done, but there's still a few more details to take care of. We still need to re-do a lot of the decorative accesories in the room and I need to make new pillow covers. Then I will proudly post a picture for you all to see.

Painting the bed

Some pitures of the bed after turning white.

Here's me painting our monogram on the headboard.

Here is Greg, putting together the bed. It is a four poster bed, and in this picture the posts aren't yet attached. You can see the finished monogram in this picture. Unfortunately, once we put the pillows on the bed we realized they covered up the monogram, so now it hides behind the pillows all day as our little secret.


We'll show you more when we get more done!

Jam Session

Our neighbors let us borrow their son's guitar so Addie and Greg could rock out together.

A Great Song

I saw this clip on my friend Laura's blog and just love it. I thought you all might enjoy it too. It's a little long, but worth every bit.

Story Time in the Courtyard

When I was a little girl, my favorite book was "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." It seems my glass-is-half-empty approach started young. (Not that I am condoning said outlook, just commenting that it comes very naturally). Anyway, when we went to the library the other day, we checked it out. (Please notice that we do not own this book, but are always willing to accept donations).

OK, so Addie and I were outside playing.... Addie plays and I talk, which is playing to me... and my neighbor Jen said she had never read the book. Well, I quickly ran inside to get it! As she sat down to read it, we realized that there were kids playing all around us, and we ended up with an impromptu Courtyard Story Time.

Please notice what is going on in this picture (if you can see it well enough). Addie has managed to get onto a lap. This is common. She would rather promote onto a lap than slum it playing on the ground like other kids. It is usually Mrs. Kropf's lap because her son Grant is active and LIKES to go play, and so she happily agrees when Addie starts begging to be held. If you will notice to the left of the picture, we have a nose picker (because all stories are heard better with you finger in your nose) (name of child graciously omitted because we've all done it, let's not make her the one PICKED on), and one child- Ceana- is carefully scrutinizing the story. Please notice the look of consternation on her face. Being a future Pastor's kid, she wants to be a discerning reader.

Maybe story time will have to be a regular thing around here. The kids were all so cute when they were gathered in one place and quiet for several minutes. :)

No Reason

No big reason for this picture or clever dialouge, just think it's cute that she can hold a banana correctly now.

You are what you swallow

Greg got Addie dressed the other day and later we came to a startling discovery. We had dressed our daughter like her pills. Let me explain.













Here is a picture of the medicine Addie takes every day for her reflux.




Sad, isn't it?

The Salt of the Earth

You would think from these blog posts that Greg is the one who gets really into his food, but actually it is usually me. I just count this as the influence I've had on him.

My sister read the post about Greg and his love for Kosher salt, and went to a gourmet spice store and bought Greg some really unique salts. There was one called "Fluer de Sel", a pink Himilayan salt, and a BLACK Hawaaiin salt. Greg was giddy. Then he talked to the chef at the hotel who told him about smoked kosher salt. Well, it was so exciting.

So for a meal last week we tried out some salts. Greg made some ribs, which he loves to continue to perfect the method to get them just right, and used the smoked Kosher. We cooked them in the crockpot all day in apple juice and with the smoked Kosher and then at the very end, topped them with BBQ sauce and grilled them for a couple of minutes. Well, they came out GREAT. Tender, sweet, smoky. Good stuff.
We would like to credit the Frasier family from Illinois for the crockpot trick, and we think adding the special salt gave them just the right amount of smokey flavor. Yum!
Then we tried the Hawaaiin salt on our corn, becuase nothing says appetizing like your corn looking like it fell in the dirt. Greg ground the black salt in his mortar and pestle, making it clear that we are total food nerds.
This is how good it was. "Nuf said.

Live Long and Prosper

No, we are not trekkies, we just thought it was funny to make her do this.