So far behind....

Ok so here are some pictures from over a week ago....most of them are from my phone, thus the delay.

Caleb enjoying our first outing to the Cider Mill this season (Sept. 19), eating an enormously well covered powdered doughnut.

Molly and Potter at Merseareau playground near our house on a flawless fall day.

Caleb on what was our last true phone call with Mollyariotti as she sat in JFK airport, waiting to board her flight to Iceland. Yes, that isn't a typo, she flew to Europe via Rejkyavik. (Sept. 22)

On Potter's first piano day, I took Caleb and Molly to Jackson's Pumpkin Farm to kill our 30 minutes. They had almost all of the decorations up, the animals were all there, but sadly, they are waiting as long as possible to harvest the large pumpkins!!!

We have been extremely busy these first couple weeks of school, and hence, there have not really been too many pictures that I have taken. Well, I do have some on my iPhone that I need to load onto the computer, but that is for another day. As of now, Caleb and Molly have been in school for a couple of weeks. Molly is in UPK, goes every day and loves it. Too bad it is only half days, I think she would stay for lunch and the afternoon if she could. Caleb has grown up so much and has not shed one tear so far this year at drop off; this is a HUGE improvement over last year. Granted, he is a year older, but the whole environment seems to be so loving and warm. Caleb has also started in gymnastics this fall and so far he seems to really be enjoying it, the foam pit being the biggest hit for him!! Potter has gotten settled into 4th grade, has joined choir at school, and has (weep here) started walking home after school by himself. I know that this had to happen at some point, but it sort of signals to me the end of a portion of his childhood that I am not really ready to let go of yet. Potter is also starting his 4th year of piano lessons, but opted not to join the orchestra at school this year. As for me and for Dave, we are just trying to keep up with the kids, maintain the house, and in a couple weeks, bring home the newest member of our family, our new lab puppy!!! More on that will be forthcoming when we pick him up. But don't despair, faithful blog followers, I'll more pics up soon!!!

Dressing up (cross dressing?)

Kids are having fun getting back into the dress up clothes. They also have a nice selection of crowns and footwear. Now THIS will ruin your chances of running for office when you grow up.

First day of UPK and preschool

Molly and Caleb both started at their new school today, Molly in the UPK (Universal Pre-Kindergarten) and Caleb in the 3s. They each had home visits from their respective teachers in the last week, and last Friday, I took them to the school, just to remind them of where their classrooms were (we had taken the tour of the school back in April and honestly, I couldn't remember where the rooms were for them) so that they would feel comfortable. Molly loved her class, walked right in and had a fantastic day!! She is going to be in heaven having school every day!! Caleb had been talking about his teacher and classroom, so we hoped he would do as well, and wouldn't you know it, he sure did!!! There were NO tears at drop off and when he saw me standing outside the door for pick up, he just sat and waited his turn to be dismissed and didn't start running for me. He also peed at school (he asked to go) and ate snack (something he didn't do very well last year) and drew a picture. Holy cow!! We couldn't have asked for better. His teacher remarked to several parents at pick up 'it is like they have already been here for a month!' Enough said!!!

More crafts from the weekend

Potter and I made a terrarium this weekend, which was probably the most fun crafty thing we did. It is difficult to get good pictures of it, but the first one is from the top looking into the opening of the vase, the second is a side shot. We have hills and valleys, rock formations, little trees we constructed, a ladybug, a caterpillar (the bugs we made, they are not live!), and a water feature. It looks very cool!! We also made Star Wars finger puppets of Yoda (Caleb and Potter) and Leia (Molly). Very fun!!!

Bathtime antics

I let Molly and Caleb have a bubble bath last night. Even Potter wanted in on the action.

Recipes for those who have asked

Here is the link to the recipe I used for hummus. Wendy, the hummus I made and photographed also had some black beans mixed in for flavor (with black beans on the top for decoration, like Sabra does ;) ) so that may account for the weird look of it. It was darker than store-bought hummus. There are so many other things that you can put in hummus, but I have been too busy baking breads and doing crafts to try (that and I need to make some more tahini sauce).

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/appetizerssnacks/r/hummusbitahini.htm

Also, this is what I used for making my pita bread. It really did take about 3 hours to rise, so do this when you have time for it to sit around. Not a bread to be rushed!!

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm

Lastly, the baguette recipe comes from Mollyariotti (if you don't know who she is, then you must NEVER read my blog) and her mom, Maggie (also known to my kids as Mommyariotti, I am not joking, that is what they call her.)

4 cups flour, 1/4 tsp yeast (use more than that!), 2 tsp salt, 2 cups warm water. Mix together until just mixed, over mixing will make the bread tough. Rub olive oil into a clean bowl and place the dough inside, then pour olive oil over the dough. Cover with Glad wrap, put in a warm spot, and let rise until it reaches the top of the bowl. Take the dough and separate and shape into 2 baguettes and place them in a baguette tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with Glad wrap that has been oiled and let rise again. You'll know when it is ready. Bake in a 450 oven for 25 minutes. Turn the oven off and slide the baguettes onto the oven rake and let them stay for 15-30 minutes to crisp the bottom. Yummy!!!

Crafting weekend

Starting last Thursday, I really had the itch to do some crafts. I have really not been doing much crafting lately, as we have been busy with out of town trips, getting ready for back to school, and life in general (which seems to go by at the speed of light). Here is a smattering of what I have been up to the last few days.

From Noisebot.com - I hijacked their idea from a shirt and put it on a bag. Math geek!!

Made one of these for Wendy, this one is for her sister.

Testing out a new stencil that I bought months ago. Need a lighter color t-shirt.

Wood frames from ACM for $1 that I painted myself. Then I used some embellishments that I had laying around and also some pretty scrapbook papers. I think you could leave this as a decoration in itself, or you could print out a photo and attach it on, so that the paper works as a mat.

Yet another of my votive candle holders that I have created.

A learning tool I made for Caleb (and Molly) that is for small motor skills and counting. There are beads in each hole and the idea is for him to count them out and put the appropriate number in each one. Molly can use this to do simple addition problems. I have not gotten that far yet in making her some flash cards.

Our weather felt board. Today was sort of sunny, so they put on the blue sky and sun. We also have, in front of the board, snowflakes, a dark sky with lightening, gray clouds and raindrops, and long blue strips that are used for when it is windy. Can you think of anything else? I think we should add some landscaping, but that again is another day.

Molly with Molly Dolly

Mollyariotti has a doll named Molly Dolly. We thought it appropriate for our Molly to have her picture taken with her. :)

Comparison

Tim and Molly - Dave made me do this. Wanted to have the comparison online. He threatened Facebook, but told him I would do the blog. Less traffic this way. I promise!!! XO!!!!!

Fun day at Chuck E. Cheese

On Thursday, a group of friends from Molly's class at RDN last year met at Chuck E. Cheese for playing and lunch. Being by myself with 2 kids, was hard to take pictures and keep track of them, so there are limited shots. But I did get a few of Molly with her best buddy Zoe. Luckily, Caleb seemed happy to 'play' the games without a token. Score for me!!! And they really loved the carousel, I guess because we have so many in our area that we ride all summer long, they were into this very little one as well.

Pita bread - easier than you think to make!

I had the dough made by 8 am this morning (very easy to do, took like 10-15 minutes) then you have to let it rise for 3 hours (!) or until doubled in bulk. Did not photo the dough, as it pretty much looked like the baguette dough I made yesterday. Then you roll it out into a rope and cut it into about 12 pieces, roll them into balls (first picture), then roll them out into about 6 inches in diameter (I measure the first one to make sure I wasn't rolling them too thin, but I am a little anal too) and then you follow the baking directions. Magically, they do puff up and look like the ones in the grocery. I will have 12 full pitas, makes 24 sandwiches or I guess I could bake them again and make pita chips. Again, much cheaper than buying pita bread if you enjoy that sort of thing.

Potter's first day of 4th grade

How did my baby get to be in 4th grade???? We did an amazing job getting him out the door by 8:15 this morning, considering that we ate breakfast yesterday around 9:30!!! Can't believe how much he has grown and changed, it of course sneaks up on you until one day you are looking at him and realize that he is really a person you are able to converse with about lots of grown up topics. What a wonderful son!!!

Molly's new tat

Found the tattoo in my purse that she won at Potter's birthday party. Had to put it on last night. She's just trying to have as many as Tim!

Last waves

I am a glutton for punishment, taking a picture of Molly and her mom as we pull out. I need to have something to look at for the next 7 months......

Group shots

Was hard to get everyone together and looking at the camera. Finally, Maggie got all of us together with Molly. We are going to miss her so much; it hurts.