Friday Favorites!

Let’s get right to it, shall we?

Number 1
My new cuff.  I heard these things were addicting, and I can totally see why.  I need more!  Check out farmgirlpaints on etsy for your own.  But hurry!!  The shop is closing on Friday!!

Number 2
Daisy.  Did you see my post earlier this week about my new dog?  She’s a rescue from NC and a sweetheart! 

Number 3

Girls night out!

Last Friday I dragged my sick self out of the house for a night with the ladies!  We had an awesome Italian dinner and saw Book of Mormon.  OMG- hilarious!!!

Number 4
Halloween!!  OK, so technically it’s not here yet, but we are getting ready!  I’ll be volunteering at Nick’s school party on Friday and I’m anticipating it will be lots of fun!  The kids are totally ready to head out and get some candy!  Here’s a sneak peek of their costumes...

Number 5
Time with family.  We got to enjoy some quality "outside" time with my family this weekend.  I just love that my boys have the opportunity to spend time with their extended family and enjoy the place I grew up.

That’s it for today folks!  What are you all doing for Halloween?  Do you trick or treat?  Or trunk or treat (what exactly is that???)?  Or do you have a fun Halloween party to go to?  What are you and/or your kiddos dressing up as??

Whatever you’re doing, be safe and have fun!!

Linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals! 

Where have I been??

Have you been wondering this yourself?? 

October has flown by and I feel like I have missed out on lots of fun activities.  I feel like I’ve been sick for most of October, and have just not had any energy to get out and do all the fall activities I enjoy, or blog for that matter.  I finally gave in and went to Urgent Care Saturday night and guess what?  I have pneumonia!  So I guess there really was a reason I have been feeling so tired and crappy!  In any case, I’ve got my antibiotics and am hopefully on the mend!

So... what have we been up to other than sickness?

--Soccer!  And hooray, last weekend was the end!!  It’s just too cold out there.
--Went to our first Elementary school open house and did our first school fundraiser (Thanksgiving pies!!)
--I started my Christmas shopping,
--Visited with family.  We got to visit my parents and the kiddos had fun outside playing with bubble guns and 4 wheelers.

--We had to put our 17 year old cat to sleep.  Very sad day.

--We got a new dog!  Her name is Daisy and she is a sweetheart.  She is a rescue from North Carolina.  She was saved from a kill shelter with her 4 puppies.  She is a total cuddle bug and fitting right into our family!

And now here we are, 3 days before Halloween!

There were tons of Halloween crafts and baking I wanted to do with the kiddos but just didn’t get to because of not feeling well.  But... we do plan on carving (or maybe just decorating?) pumpkins and of course going Trick or Treating!!  I will also be attending Nick’s Halloween party at school on Friday.  Can’t wait!  We also have a couple other Halloween activities we may check out during the day Saturday.

I’ll close today by showing you some of our fall decorations...since I never got that post up!!!

Check back here on Friday for my favorites!!!!

Weekending!

What an absolutely gorgeous fall weekend!!  The weather was perfect and I tried to soak up as much "fall" as I could!

The kids went to their grandparents overnight, so the hubs and I went to VT for the day to enjoy fall in all it's splendor!  The drive over was simply beautiful.  The leaves were close to their peak with vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges.  Have you ever seen a giant mountain in front of you in full fall color?  It is breathtaking.

Our first stop was at Mt. Snow.  Our plan was to take a scenic chair lift ride, but there actually was an Octoberfest going on!  Wish I had known that beforehand because we would have headed over much earlier in the day!  After a brief stop at the Octoberfest, we headed over to Manchester. We got there just in time for our dinner reservations at Ye Olde Tavern.  This place is a definite must-eat if you are in Manchester.  The building is indeed "old" and the inside has a totally old-timey feel to it.  They have several classic, New England, grandma-used-to-make type dishes on their menu (or Yankee Favorites as they call it)...pot roast, chicken pot pie, turkey dinner with sausage stuffing.  If that's not your thing, don't worry... they have all sorts of other chicken, fish, beef and vegetarian dishes on the menu.  But the BEST part are these amazing little homemade cranberry fritters they serve with Vermont maple butter.  OMG- sooo good (and I'm not even a fan of cranberries)!

Totally thrilled I'm taking his pic!

Anyway, after a delicious dinner we did some shopping at the outlets and then headed home.  Well, we did make a stop at a diner for some coffee and dessert first.  :)

Sunday I slept in insanely late and it was heaven!  I did a little housekeeping and then went to pick up the boys.  The afternoon was spent playing Legos, watching Nick Jr. and decorating our driveway with chalk.  I also got in a little solo Target trip (my favorite Sunday activity) and just might have picked up a Halloween costume for myself!

Yes, he's wearing his PJS

The evening consisted of dinner, baths for the boys, and reading Halloween books.  Now I'm blogging, listening to the snores of the hubs and the dog drifting down from upstairs.

Well friends, unfortunately I have to work tomorrow (no Columbus day long weekend for me) so it's time to say goodnight.  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  Tell me what you did in the comments!  And to my fellow Northeasterners, get out their and soak up this beautiful fall weather while it lasts!  We all know winter weather will be here way too soon!

Scarf Swap!

Y'all know I'm a sucker for a swap so of course when Rachel from Floral and Fudge posted about a SCARF SWAP I just had to sign up!!

I had a great time picking out a scarf for the lovely Shelly who blogs at The Queen in Between.  I also really enjoyed reading her blog and finding out more about her and her family.  And... her blog introduced me to some gorgeous cuffs made by Farmgirl Paints!  I just purchased one the other night and have a feeling I will be getting a few more!

My scarf came from Seri at Serisblog.com.  I was excited when I heard my scarf was coming from Seri, because she has stopped by my blog before and left some sweet comments.  I also have really enjoyed the Small Business Monday series she does on her blog.  I just love checking out the unique shops she features!  Anyway, Seri sent me this beautiful scarf!!

Isn't that blue to die for?!

Thanks so much Seri!  And thanks to Rachel and Astleigh for another great swap!

Friday Favorites- It's Fall!

Happy October friends!  I love October!  Cool temps, pretty leaves, mums, pumpkins, cider, cider donuts and HALLOWEEN!  Right now it is 47 degrees and I am LOVING it!  I am curled up on my coach with a blanket and my blardigan!!  It is so comfy and soft and I'm so glad I bit the bullet and bought it!

So in honor of fall, here are my Friday Favorites - FALL STYLE!

#1  Apple Orchard Field Trip

Nick had his first kindergarten field trip and I had my first experience as a parent chaperone!  The kids had so much fun learning about the apple orchard, picking their own apples and playing on the playground.  Then the next day they made applesauce in class.  How cool is that?!

#2  Fall scents

It's time for pumpkin and apple scented candles!!!  I usually am a Yankee Candle snob, but I have to say, I am LOVING this new warmer from Scentsy.  And the pumpkin scented wax I am melting right now is divine!

#3  Fall kitchen towels

My friend over at Moon Pie Design has done it again!  She makes such cute and fun personalized items.  I saw these kitchen towels on her Facebook page and I HAD to have some for myself! LOVE! They totally add some festive fun to my kitchen!

#4  Ellms Farm

This is pretty much THE place to go in our area for fall fun with your kids.  We went last weekend and had an awesome time!  They have 2 huge jumping pillows, a kiddie zip line, corn maze, train rides, pedal carts, giant slides, corn cannon, pumpkins and tons more!

#5  I LOVE COFFEE

OK, so technically coffee isn't a "fall" things, but I do enjoy my coffee more in the colder months (and duh, PSLs)!!  So in honor of my deep love of fall coffee drinks, I made a new K cup organizer!  And you can bet there are some pumpkin spice K cups in there!!

Last weekend was near perfect.  The weather was amazing (for those fellow fall lovers like me). Saturday we had fun at Ellms Farm in the afternoon followed by dinner at Red Lobster.  The waitress even commented on how well my kids were behaved (have pigs started flying??)!!!  Sunday my parents came to watch Nick's soccer game, we enjoyed some amazing tortellini and sausage soup I cooked in the crock pot for lunch on our deck, and then spent the rest of the day relaxing.  This weekend all we have on tap (so far) is soccer on Saturday.  The weather is looking good (60s and no rain), so I'm hoping to find some fall-themed activities to do!

What are you doing this weekend?  Anything that is festively fall??

Linking up with these lovely ladies:

Andrea at Momfessionals

Oh Hey, Friday!

High Five For Friday

Five For Friday!

Man, I have been doing such a crappy job lately keeping up with this blog!  But I'm here today and that counts for something, right??

Usually on Friday I share my 5 favorites of the week with you.  Well, today I'm rolling just a little different.   I'm sharing 5 things...5 things that I just want you to know about my life lately!

#1 My oldest son started kindergarten 

First day!

Homework :(

Let me tell you, this is not the kindergarten I remember.   Kindergarten for me was a half day.  I remember we had snack, we played, and I think we might have taken a nap.  For Nick, kindergarten is a full day.  Snack...yes. Play time...20 minutes of recess. That's it. 20 minutes.  He has a computer class once a week.  He has homework every night (granted it takes only about 10 minutes to complete but still).  He comes home with anywhere from 1-5 papers a day of stuff I need to do or remember!   I'm feeling very stressed and I'm not even the one in school!  I will say though, so far things are going well!  Nick likes his teacher and likes school.  What a relief!

#2 Soccer 

The best part about soccer is the post game Target trip!

The weekends have been all about soccer.  Is it bad that I pray for rain every weekend in the hopes the games will be cancelled?  Honestly though, it has been a fun experience coaching and our team has some serious soccer talent!

#3 Field trip time 

Nick's first visit to the apple orchard

Tuesday is Nick's first field trip as a kindergartner and my first time being a parent chaperone!!  All the kindergartens will be visiting a local apple orchard. It seems like the apple orchard is the go-to kindergarten field trip for pretty much every school in the Northeast!   I wonder what the go-to field trip is for southerners?? Tell me if you know!

#4 Work and more work 

My full time job has been incredibly busy this month and I've had to put in extra hours there as well as time at home.  Then last week I also did my first in-home 31 party which my neurotic self spent wayyyy too much time preparing for!

#5 A partridge in a pear tree

My tree is like 4x the size of this one!

OK, there isn't a partridge in it but I do have a pear tree!  There is this random tree at the back of our property that I originally thought was just a plain old regular tree. But then I thought I saw apples growing on it so figured it was a crab apple.  Well, the hubby went and looked at it the other day and said it is loaded with pears!   Like hundreds of them! This tree is big... it has been there a while...a long while.  It's not in a place where someone would have deliberately planted a tree (our backyard was undeveloped land before our house was built 3 years ago...completely overgrown with bushes, weeds and small maple trees.  You ocassionally see a small pear tree in NY, but it's not something that's super common.  I have NEVER seen a pear tree this big before in my life!  I wonder how it got there??  It's such a random tree in such a random place.  And yes, I am probably wayyyy too excited over a tree. But I just think it's so cool!

Linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals

And

Show and Tell Tuesday- Who's coming to dinner??

When I saw today's Show and Tell Tuesday topic, I couldn't wait to link up with Andrea!

Today we are sharing the 5 people we would invite to a dinner party at our house.  How fun!!!

#1  Barry Manilow... Unfortunately for Barry, I would make him sing the entire party.  Although, I would like to hear the stories behind the songs, so he could talk about that a little bit between sets!  :)  Best.musician.ever.

#2 Tony Stewart... I am not really into NASCAR these days, but I will always love Tony Stewart.  I would love to sit next to him at the table and gaze lovingly... I mean, listen to all his amazing stories.  I love his drive and his love of racing.  Plus, I get the feeling he is a really fun guy to hang out with!  

Or, if Tony is unavailable then I would invite Andy Pettitte (retired NY Yankees pitcher for all you non-baseball fans).  Amazing guy.  I have always wanted to meet him, so of course he's coming to my dinner party!  End of story.

#3  Will Ferrell... He may literally be the funniest man alive.  I loved him on SNL and I love his movies!  I could watch Step-Brothers and Anchorman 10x a day and not get tired of them!  I'm sure Will would keep me laughing through the whole party.

#4 Oprah...well DUH.  Who WOULDN'T invite Oprah to their party?  I feel like Oprah and I could be friends.   Maybe best friends.  And maybe she would bring some of her "Favorites" to the party for everyone!  Or at least a lovely gift for the hostess!

#5  Seth Rogen and James Franco...They're a package deal, right?  Well, it's my dinner party and I say they are!  They are funny, interesting, and I hear they know how to party.  100% invited!

Now tell me this wouldn't be a fun dinner party!!

You should link up too!!